August 20th, 2026
This week, I’ve had a lesser-known story in the Bible on my heart. It’s a short story and it isn’t warm or comfortable. It’s not a tale recounted in children’s books or depicted in movies. The book of Hosea, known as one of the “minor” prophets, is a short book in the Old Testament, sandwiched in between several other “minor” prophets and often overlooked.
However, the story of Hosea is as much a picture of God’s heart as any other in the Word of God. It takes place around 750-730 B.C., before the northern kingdom of Israel fell for the last time. Hosea was a prophet of God and at the time of his ministry, Israel was prosperous. Spiritual and moral decay was rampant, but there was nothing to indicate anything was amiss except the warnings of God. The people were wealthy, safe, and content to continue in sin. What could go wrong?
God did everything He could to call His people to repentance, including allowing the prophet Hosea’s life to become a painful sermon illustration. God asked Hosea to marry an adulterous woman as an example of the unfaithfulness of Israel. Hosea 1:2 says,
‘When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”’
Ouch. Hosea married a woman who would be as unfaithful to him as Israel was to her God. Gomer, Hosea’s wife, was loved and cared for by her husband and had three children. However, she left her family to go after other lovers. It could have been the end of the story, but God’s prophetic purpose wasn’t complete. Hosea 3:1-5 says,
‘And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” So, I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so, will I also be to you.” For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.’
As painful as all of this must have been for Hosea, he went in obedience to bring his wife home. He paid the price for her redemption and brought her out of her infidelity, once again as a prophetic picture of what God would do for His people. Her unfaithfulness contrasted with Hosea’s faithfulness paint a picture of God’s heart to His wayward people.
Hosea 4:1-3 says,
“Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore, the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away.”
The Scripture points out here that the land itself, along with the animals, birds, and fish, were affected by Israel’s unfaithfulness. This is fascinating to think about, but the truth is that if we are unfaithful, everyone and everything God has called us to steward will suffer the consequences.
Hosea 4:6 says,
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”
Tragically, the people didn’t heed the warnings of God, despite the prophetic acts of Hosea. The Assyrian empire conquered Israel and the people—and their children—suffered the consequences of their sin.
It’s easy to look at Gomer—and Israel—and wonder how they could have been unfaithful. How could she leave her family? How could they forget everything God did for them? However, all sin is unfaithfulness, because it is an affront to the covenant of God.
We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory and have all found ourselves in need of God’s redemption (Romans 3:23). The story of Hosea is so powerful because God hates unfaithfulness, idolatry, and adultery—and we’re made to hate it too. Idolatry and adultery are connected because they are the breaking of covenant—one, a covenant with a spouse, and the other, a covenant with God Himself. We may think we have no issue in that area because we live in a nation that doesn’t have overt idolatry. However, anything we put above or alongside God in our hearts—including ourselves—is an idol.
The first of the ten commandments is “Thou shall have no other gods” (Exodus 20:2-3). There are many other verses about God’s hatred for idolatry and adultery.
James 4:3-5 says,
‘You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that He has made to dwell in us.”’
Friendship with the world is adultery! Faithfulness to God means that He is both first and alone in our hearts. We can’t love Him and the sin and darkness that He brings us out of. He is holy! Jesus said the greatest commandment was to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength” (Matthew 22:36-40). If we love God with all our hearts, there is no room for idolatry or any type of unfaithfulness. If we love Him with all our hearts, we won’t sin against Him. Passion for Him will remove the desire for anything else!
Thankfully, the prophetic truth God spoke through Hosea did not end in 730 B.C. God was speaking to Israel of a time when He would buy them back for the last time—when He would call His children to Himself for the last time. Hosea 13:14 says,
“I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol; I shall redeem them from Death. O Death, where are your plagues; O Sheol, where is your sting?”
This same scripture is cited by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 15:54-55. It says,
‘When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”’
Paul wrote here of the final resurrection through the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the final ransom paid for the debt of our unfaithfulness. He was the demonstration of God’s unending faithfulness. As Hosea loved Gomer, regardless of her unfaithfulness, God loves us no matter what. Nothing can change the power of His love.
However, the blessings are only found within the covenant. We only get to live in God’s promises if we remain in God’s house. God sent Jesus, paying the highest price to redeem us from sin and ransom us from the power of death. He reached down for us, just as Hosea went to purchase his adulterous bride back from her sinfulness, but she had to come home. We too, must come home to God and live within His covenant if we want to receive His blessings. If we’re outside His covenant—in sin or unfaithfulness— we can’t live in His promises.
The prodigal son was always loved and always welcome, but he didn’t live like a son until he came back to his father’s house (Luke 15:11-32). When he was living in a pigsty, eating slop and covered in mud, it was because of His choices, not his father’s neglect. We can’t blame God when our choices have consequences. God is faithful. It’s not something He does. It’s who He is. His people’s wandering, sin, and unfaithfulness don’t change His character. He loves us and grieves over His lost children more than we’ll ever understand. He longs for His people to come home more than we do, regardless of how far they wander. Romans 5:8 says,
“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
This week, be encouraged with the truth that God’s love and faithfulness are unending. They are who He is, who He has always been, and who He will always be. That truth is meant to draw us to Him in faithfulness. We can be faithful, because He has been faithful. We can be confident in His promises because He is unchanging. Let’s walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which He’s called us (Philippians 1:27). Let’s walk in the holiness we’re called to live in. He is the God of heaven and earth. There is no one like Him. The angels, in all their might and glory, never stop crying “holy” around His throne. Let’s live in reverence for the covenant we have with the King of kings and refuse to be unfaithful to the One who has loved us so fully. He yearns for us to walk with Him faithfully every day of our lives, and we can! He bought us back, making a way by the blood of His Son and placing His very Spirit inside of us. He has loved us with an everlasting love. We can choose to live faithfully in His covenant, walking in the power of heaven, every single day of our lives!
However, the story of Hosea is as much a picture of God’s heart as any other in the Word of God. It takes place around 750-730 B.C., before the northern kingdom of Israel fell for the last time. Hosea was a prophet of God and at the time of his ministry, Israel was prosperous. Spiritual and moral decay was rampant, but there was nothing to indicate anything was amiss except the warnings of God. The people were wealthy, safe, and content to continue in sin. What could go wrong?
God did everything He could to call His people to repentance, including allowing the prophet Hosea’s life to become a painful sermon illustration. God asked Hosea to marry an adulterous woman as an example of the unfaithfulness of Israel. Hosea 1:2 says,
‘When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”’
Ouch. Hosea married a woman who would be as unfaithful to him as Israel was to her God. Gomer, Hosea’s wife, was loved and cared for by her husband and had three children. However, she left her family to go after other lovers. It could have been the end of the story, but God’s prophetic purpose wasn’t complete. Hosea 3:1-5 says,
‘And the Lord said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, even as the Lord loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love cakes of raisins.” So, I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley. And I said to her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so, will I also be to you.” For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods. Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.’
As painful as all of this must have been for Hosea, he went in obedience to bring his wife home. He paid the price for her redemption and brought her out of her infidelity, once again as a prophetic picture of what God would do for His people. Her unfaithfulness contrasted with Hosea’s faithfulness paint a picture of God’s heart to His wayward people.
Hosea 4:1-3 says,
“Hear the word of the Lord, O children of Israel, for the Lord has a controversy with the inhabitants of the land. There is no faithfulness or steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land; there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed. Therefore, the land mourns, and all who dwell in it languish, and the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens, and even the fish of the sea are taken away.”
The Scripture points out here that the land itself, along with the animals, birds, and fish, were affected by Israel’s unfaithfulness. This is fascinating to think about, but the truth is that if we are unfaithful, everyone and everything God has called us to steward will suffer the consequences.
Hosea 4:6 says,
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.”
Tragically, the people didn’t heed the warnings of God, despite the prophetic acts of Hosea. The Assyrian empire conquered Israel and the people—and their children—suffered the consequences of their sin.
It’s easy to look at Gomer—and Israel—and wonder how they could have been unfaithful. How could she leave her family? How could they forget everything God did for them? However, all sin is unfaithfulness, because it is an affront to the covenant of God.
We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory and have all found ourselves in need of God’s redemption (Romans 3:23). The story of Hosea is so powerful because God hates unfaithfulness, idolatry, and adultery—and we’re made to hate it too. Idolatry and adultery are connected because they are the breaking of covenant—one, a covenant with a spouse, and the other, a covenant with God Himself. We may think we have no issue in that area because we live in a nation that doesn’t have overt idolatry. However, anything we put above or alongside God in our hearts—including ourselves—is an idol.
The first of the ten commandments is “Thou shall have no other gods” (Exodus 20:2-3). There are many other verses about God’s hatred for idolatry and adultery.
James 4:3-5 says,
‘You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that He has made to dwell in us.”’
Friendship with the world is adultery! Faithfulness to God means that He is both first and alone in our hearts. We can’t love Him and the sin and darkness that He brings us out of. He is holy! Jesus said the greatest commandment was to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength” (Matthew 22:36-40). If we love God with all our hearts, there is no room for idolatry or any type of unfaithfulness. If we love Him with all our hearts, we won’t sin against Him. Passion for Him will remove the desire for anything else!
Thankfully, the prophetic truth God spoke through Hosea did not end in 730 B.C. God was speaking to Israel of a time when He would buy them back for the last time—when He would call His children to Himself for the last time. Hosea 13:14 says,
“I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol; I shall redeem them from Death. O Death, where are your plagues; O Sheol, where is your sting?”
This same scripture is cited by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 15:54-55. It says,
‘When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”’
Paul wrote here of the final resurrection through the power of the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was the final ransom paid for the debt of our unfaithfulness. He was the demonstration of God’s unending faithfulness. As Hosea loved Gomer, regardless of her unfaithfulness, God loves us no matter what. Nothing can change the power of His love.
However, the blessings are only found within the covenant. We only get to live in God’s promises if we remain in God’s house. God sent Jesus, paying the highest price to redeem us from sin and ransom us from the power of death. He reached down for us, just as Hosea went to purchase his adulterous bride back from her sinfulness, but she had to come home. We too, must come home to God and live within His covenant if we want to receive His blessings. If we’re outside His covenant—in sin or unfaithfulness— we can’t live in His promises.
The prodigal son was always loved and always welcome, but he didn’t live like a son until he came back to his father’s house (Luke 15:11-32). When he was living in a pigsty, eating slop and covered in mud, it was because of His choices, not his father’s neglect. We can’t blame God when our choices have consequences. God is faithful. It’s not something He does. It’s who He is. His people’s wandering, sin, and unfaithfulness don’t change His character. He loves us and grieves over His lost children more than we’ll ever understand. He longs for His people to come home more than we do, regardless of how far they wander. Romans 5:8 says,
“God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
This week, be encouraged with the truth that God’s love and faithfulness are unending. They are who He is, who He has always been, and who He will always be. That truth is meant to draw us to Him in faithfulness. We can be faithful, because He has been faithful. We can be confident in His promises because He is unchanging. Let’s walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which He’s called us (Philippians 1:27). Let’s walk in the holiness we’re called to live in. He is the God of heaven and earth. There is no one like Him. The angels, in all their might and glory, never stop crying “holy” around His throne. Let’s live in reverence for the covenant we have with the King of kings and refuse to be unfaithful to the One who has loved us so fully. He yearns for us to walk with Him faithfully every day of our lives, and we can! He bought us back, making a way by the blood of His Son and placing His very Spirit inside of us. He has loved us with an everlasting love. We can choose to live faithfully in His covenant, walking in the power of heaven, every single day of our lives!
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