The book of Hosea (from the Old Testament of the Bible) was written at approximately 715 B.C. Its purpose was to illustrate the spiritual adultery of Israel and God’s boundless love for His sinful people.
In this book, God tells Hosea to marry the
unfaithful Gomer (a prostitute). Hosea obeys. In this narrative, Hosea takes
Gomer back constantly without any promise of love his part.
Religious author, Francine Rivers, updates
and humanizes this story to 1860 in the California gold country when men sold their
souls for a bag of gold (and women sold their bodies for a place to sleep). All the excitement happens in her book Redeeming Love.
Angel (Gomer) expects nothing from men but
betrayal. Sold into prostitution as a child, she survives by keeping her hatred
alive. And what she hates most are the men who use her, leaving her empty and
dead inside.
Then she meets Michael Hosea. A man who seeks
his Father’s heart in everything, Michael obeys God’s call to marry Angel, and
to love her unconditionally. He defies Angel’s every bitter expectation until
her frozen heart begins to thaw. But with her unexpected softening comes
overwhelming feelings of unworthiness and fear.
Angel runs back to the darkness away from her
husband’s pursuing love. She is terrified of the truth she can no longer deny:
Her final healing must come from the One who loves her even more than Michael
Hosea does. This is a life-changing story of God’s unconditional,
redemptive, all-consuming love. As you might imagine,
this fictional novel has some powerful messages we all need to know.
1. Allow God to give you a clear vision
of His calling: Sometimes, our purpose may come with a task. This assignment may
be to open to various interpretations. Don’t get confused. Your primary purpose
is to build God’s kingdom with all the different abilities you’ve been given.
2. God loves
the broken: Sometimes, we feel as though the mistakes that we have made, or
the decisions that we have taken in the past have made us a lost cause. We are
broken like a pot of clay carelessly handled. Some of us live our lives like
victims.
We are choked by the guilt of
what we have done, or what others have done to us. Irrespective
of the mess that you have been through, God does not see you that way. He loves
you, and is willing to let His beautiful light shine through your cracks (if
you let Him).
3. There is
only one method to find your purpose: I
strongly believe that there is a reason for our existence of all of us. When we
buy a shoe, clothing, or a cell phone, we buy them to perform certain
functions. If an object can have a purpose, why shouldn’t we?
Having understood that, another
major question commonly asked is how to find that purpose. The creator of an
object is the best person to tell you the use of that object. God can help you
find your total purpose for your life. While some of us are still being blinded
by our past, many of us have already come to realize that there is a reason
attached to our lives.
4. Your
wholeness (or fulfillment) is not dependent on another person: Over the
years, I’ve learnt that one of the most common places we tend to seek
fulfillment or happiness is in someone else. It is a misconception that
you are not complete until you are married.
Likewise, it is
a misconception, that another person can make you fulfilled. Wholeness
happens when you meet your Heavenly Father. God is there to help your even when
you don’t believe in Him. The only person that can fix our brokenness is God.
“My favorite book is Redeeming
Love It was my first as a born-again
Christian, my statement of faith, and the most exciting year I've spent writing
anything.” (Francine Rivers)[i]
[i] Sources used:
·
“4 Lessons to Pick from Francine Rivers’ ‘Redeeming
Love’ + a Christmas Giveaway!” by Seun
Olagunju
·
“Hosea Summary” by Jay Smith
·
http://francinerivers.com/books/redeeming-love/
No comments:
Post a Comment