HOSETTA: THE WIFE AND THE MISTRESS: CHAPTER 6

  

CHAPTER 6

HOSETTA: THE WIFE AND THE MISTRESS

“...Thou shalt have no other gods before me...” (Exodus 20:1-4 KJV). “...Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth...” (Exodus 20:1-4 KJV). “…thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and …art polluted with their idols…” (Ezekiel 23:30).

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However, people may judge her life; no one have judged it more than she did, herself. She was the one who lived it! Yet, Hosetta “knew” her marriage to George was directed by God. God “knew” that George would become a chronic adulterer. God says: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (Jeremiah 29:11 KJV). “…all things work together for GOOD to them that LOVE GOD (and keep his commandments), to them who are THE CALLED (chosen) to his purpose” (Romans 8:28 KJV). “ ... in the PROCESS of TIME “IT” CAME TO PASS…” (Genesis 4:3 KJV).

George and Hosetta’s marriage was symbolic of God, the Holy Spirit’s, covenant relationship with a WAYWARD and chronically adulterous people. God's people WHORED around on him too. “…thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and …art polluted with their idols…” (Ezekiel 23:30). "...Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed GREAT WHOREDOM, departing from the Lord..." (Hosea 1:2 KJV).

Hosetta’s life became the MESSAGE for the people of the 21^st century. Many of his people, today, are unfaithful, WAYWARD, and chronically adulterous (also called apostasy) within the covenant relationship with God, the HOLY Spirit.

They have and are habitually chasing after other gods (idols) and have broken the covenant vows to God. Hosetta wrote in her journal: An idol is ANYTHING a person has an excessive devotion to or reverence for that replaces the one true and living God, the Holy Spirit.

Hosetta  came to understand that breaking the covenant vows with a spouse, whom you are in a SACRED marriage with, symbolizes how unfaithful, WAYWARD, and adulterous people violate the SACRED, covenant relationship with God, the Holy Spirit, too.“…thou hast gone a whoring after the heathen, and …art polluted with their idols…” (Ezekiel 23:30). "...the land hath committed GREAT WHOREDOM, DEPARTING from the Lord..." (Hosea 1:2 KJV).

George was Hosetta’s husband like God’s people are God’s bride. Men probably have a hard time thinking of themselves as a BRIDE, but it is only a metaphor. When it comes to being REDEEMED or one of God’s people everybody is EQUALLY HIS BRIDE. The bible says: “…YE ARE “ALL” CHILDREN OF GOD BY FAITH “IN” CHRIST JESUS. …There is NEITHER ….male nor female: for YE ARE ALL ONE IN CHRIST JESUS…” (Galatians “…Then Peter replied, “I see very clearly that God SHOWS NO FAVORITISM.  In every nation HE ACCEPTS those who fear him and do what is right. …” (Acts 10:34-36 NLT). “…Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no RESPECTER OF PERSONS: …” (Acts 10:34-36 KJV). “…Christ …. died for sins ONCE for “ALL”…” (1 Peter 3:18 NASB). 3:26-28 KJV).

George went after his lovers like Gomer, in the book of Hosea, went after her lovers. “...I will go after my lovers...” (Hosea 2:5).

Their marriage vows were traditional and they made those vows in front of God and a whole bunch of witnesses. They promised to keep those vows until DEATH departed them.

Hosetta and George, both, “voluntary” made those vows to each other and promised to keep them.  Hosetta was like any other young woman, of her day; she wanted a happy, loving, and Godly marriage. She had no reason to think her dream would not become a reality.

Hosetta’s vows were important to her. She had not only made those vows to George, but she was keenly aware that she had also made those VOWS to God? Hosetta knew several scriptures about makings vows. “...When you make a vow to God, do not delay to fulfill it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow.  It is better not to make a vow than to make one and not fulfill it.  Do not let your mouth lead you into sin. And do not protest to the temple messenger, “My vow was a mistake.” Why should God be angry at what you say and destroy the work of your hands?...” (Ecclesiastes 5:4-5 NIV).

“... If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the Lord your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin.  But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the Lord your God with your own mouth...” (Deuteronomy 23:21-23 NIV).

“... When a man (woman) makes a vow to the Lord or takes an oath to obligate himself (herself) by a pledge, he (she) must not break his(her) word but must do everything he (she) said...” (Numbers 30:2 NIV).

 “...Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made...’” (Matthew 5:33 NIV).

In the context of 20^th century marriages and according to the vows they’d made to each other, it wasn’t long before the interaction between Hosetta and George became unbalanced and practically one-sided.

George broke their covenant vows over and over again. Hosetta was sorely disappointment over the brokenness of the covenant relationship between them.

In the early years George said he felt convicted about his behavior. He made a greater effort to repent from his ways. But in the later years George said he had no conscience, any more, about what he was doing and he made less of an effort to repent from his ways.

George continually attempted to serve (attend to) God, her, Oscar, and his addiction. The bible  had NOT changed and still distinctly said “NO MAN” can serve two masters, (something or someone that demands or requires your utmost loyalty), but eventually he (she) will HATE one and LOVE the other or they will be DEVOTED to one and DESPISE the other.

It was almost predictable that George could not go on switching between two lifestyles without eventually having to choose one over the other. “...You cannot serve God and be enslaved... [to sin too]...” (Matthew 6:24). “…Choose you this day whom ye will serve….” (Joshua 24:15 KJV).

Eventually George had to CHOOSE and one day HE DID.  George’s heart WAS devoted to his wife, which was no longer Hosetta, but his addiction (his idol). Hosetta was now his mistress and his devotion to her was only lip-service; not heart-service. “…This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Mark 7:6 KJV).

In the last few years of her marriage to George, her best friend/sister, Leah, had suggested she keep a journal. One day God, the Holy Spirit, asked herself a question; What had her marriage to George taught her about God’s love for HIS people? This is what Hosetta wrote: Love covers over a lot of offenses. Loving is fully forgiving and doesn’t keep a record of another person’s wrongs toward you. Love is enduring. Love suffers long, because it gives the other person a chance to get it right with you. Love is faithful. Love is loyal. Love makes a sacrifice and therefore will always be costly. Love continues, even if it does not receive anything in return. Love does not come with a wage attachment, where you have to somehow earn it. Love does not come with a partiality tag, where you somehow have to be worthy of it. Love does not come with a merit tag, where somehow you have to be deserving of it. Love is free towards the recipient of it and will not demand anything in return. Love won’t change, even if the recipient changes, walks away, rejects it, follows after another,  is unfaithful, offends,  forsakes, or totally forgets about it...”

Hosetta had been empowered, by the indwelling Holy Spirit, to love George in that way. God was relentlessly loving, like that, by nature, but Hosetta was NOT.

Hosetta, however, understood, in order to be “...the mouthpiece for his heart...” she would have to “experience” his “longsuffering” kind of love.

Hosetta wanted to know God. Leah even said she volunteered, before she came to earth, for the job. They laughed about it. She read the last insert, in her journal, for that day. “...Love is not insecure, it needs nothing from the recipient. Love does not have low self-esteem, it does not need validation from its recipient. Love is concerned with its own expression and not the expression of the recipient. Love’s only agenda is love...”

Hosetta closed the journal. What she had learned of love was noble and wonderful, but it wasn’t easy and it cost entirely TOO MUCH!

Hosetta was like any typical woman and human being. She DID NOT want to be married to a man like GEORGE and she certainly DID NOT want to show him unconditionally love.

Hosetta didn’t simply become obedient to God without struggling, first, with her flesh. She rebelled and resisted every lesson on grace, on forgiveness, on mercy, and on God’s kind of love, especially as it related to adulterous George. BUT the lessons NEVER went away until she SURRENDERED to God’s instructions.

Hosetta also knew she would never graduate or be promoted UNTIL she completed the lessons necessary to walk in her calling. It took over thirty years to get promoted to the entry level position as “...the mouthpiece for God’s heart...”

As deep as God had taken her in his revelation of knowledge of himself, Hosetta was STILL at the shallow end.

God’s love had been poured out into Hosetta’s heart. Her resistance to walking in God’s kind of love, was a clear example of how her ways were not like God’s ways. The bible KNOWS what it is talking about: “…For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts…” (Isaiah 55:8-9 KJV).

Hosetta found it distasteful, hard to swallow, and difficult to forgive some of George’s offenses, but God taught her that his kind of love covers a multitude of sin. “…LOVE covereth a multitude of sins…” (Proverbs 10:12, 1 Peter 4:8 ASV). When did you get to a multitude? She was almost certain George's sins had exceeded that.

Hosetta wrote in her journal: The bible says God "IS" love. “…God is love…” (1 John 4:4-8 KJV). Love, therefore, is at the core of his nature and permeates his every word and every deed. “…God is love…” (1 John 4:4-8 KJV). To be any other way, other than loving, God would have to deny who he is, just like the bible says, but HE WON’T, because he NEVER changes. “…for he cannot deny who he is…” (2 Timothy 2:13 NLT).  “…God is LOVE…” (1 John 4:4-8 KJV). “… “I AM WHO I AM …” (Exodus 3:14-15 NASB).  “…I change NOT…” (Malachi 3:6 KJV). “…there is none like unto thee…” (Jeremiah 10:6 KJV).  ^“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8 NIV).

Hosetta’s marriage to George, WAS a marriage made in heaven after all. God CALLED it into existence. It was established to demonstrate Christ’s great, endless, and relentless love for his covenant people (the church), even when they are unfaithful, WAYWARD, and chronically adulterous toward him. There are scriptural instructions for earthly marriages for God's people such as:  “… Husbands , love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her…” (Ephesians 5:25 NASB). “…So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself…” (Ephesians 5:28 NASB). “…Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself…” (Ephesians 5:33 NASB). “…Husbands, love your wives and do not be embittered against them…” (Colossians 3:19 NASB).

The Ephesian 5:25 scripture applied to Hosetta’s marriage to George too. It may be specific to husbands, telling them to love their wives, but it didn’t exempt the wife’s responsibility to love their husbands.

Hosetta meditated on God's Word. “…In this world … [the husband and wife] … are LIKE JESUS…” (1 John 4:17 NIV). Therefore, “….as [God has]… loved [them]… [they are to] …love one another ….” (John 13:34 ASV).  “…Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love…” (1 John 4:4-8 KJV).

Hosetta also meditated on scriptures by paraphrasing them and making them "personal" to herself. “… [wives]... love your ...[husbands]... just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for [it]…” (Ephesians 5:25 NASB). “….as I have loved you… love one another ….” (John 13:34 ASV). “…Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law…” (Romans 13:8 NIV).  “…LOVE one another, even as I have loved you…” (John 13:34-35 KJV).

“…Beloved, let us love one another …” (1 John 4:4-8 KJV).

“…In this world we are like Jesus…” (1 John 4:17 NIV). “...be… imitators of [Jesus]…” (Hebrews 12:14; Ephesians 5:1 ASV). HIS...“…Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, It is not easily angered, It keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres, Love never fails…” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 NIV).

Hosetta STRUGGLED, in her flesh, to love George. He was wayward. He was unfaithful. He was a chronic adulterer.

Her flesh didn’t want to do right, but the indwelling Holy Spirit DID and it was the indwelling Holy Spirit that empowered her to continue to love George. Hosetta simply couldn't love George, unconditionally, apart from God's indwelling Holy Spirit. 

What would she do without God's Word?  The bible said: “...Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the ...[indwelling]...Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak...” (Matthew 26:41 NASB). “…the flesh profits nothing…” (John 6:63 NASB). “….Apart from [the spirit],.. [you]… can do nothing…” (John 15:5 NIV).

“…I do nothing of myself…” (John 8:28 KJV). “…the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works…” (John 14:10 KJV). “…He helps me…” (Psalms 28:7 NLT).

 “…I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t …” (Romans 7:14-25 NLT). “…Who will free me from this life that is dominated by SIN (I don’t want to love as unconditionally as God does)? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord…” (Romans 7:14-25 NLT).

“…I can do ALL THINGS through Christ which strengtheneth me…” (Philippians 4:13 KJV).

In ALL honesty, Hosetta KNEW it was the indwelling Holy Spirit, ALONE, that empowered her love to George. What better teacher was there, than God, the Holy Spirit, who was an expert at loving chronic SINNERS.  She had read: “…God commendeth (demonstrated) his love toward ...[mankind], in that, while,,,[they]...  were YET SINNERS, ...[he sent]...Christ (his PLAN of SALVATION, who) DIED FOR ...[THEM]…” (Romans 5:8 KJV). “….apart from Me (JESUS), you can do nothing…” (John 15:5 NIV). “…I can do ALL THINGS through Christ which strengtheneth me…” (Philippians 4:13 KJV).

“…It is God who works IN [his people]… TO WILL (DESIRE) and TO ACT (ACTUALLY DO)…” (Philippians 2:13 NIV). “…Jesus said unto him, If THOU CANST BELIEVE, ALL THINGS are possible to him that believeth…” (Mark 9:23 KJV). “…[God’s people]…. can DO ALL THINGS through Christ…” (Philippians 4:13 KJV). “… [God’s people are]…strengthened with might by [God’s]… Spirit in [their].. inner man (woman)…” (Ephesians 3:16 KJV). “…The God of peace, … that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip [his people]… with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in [him]… what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Hebrews 13:20-21 NIV).

Hosetta gets no Nobel Prize for loving George, unconditionally, through his waywardness, his unfaithfulness, and his chronic adulteries, because, without the indwelling Holy Spirit, she couldn’t, she wouldn’t, and was told she shouldn’t. It was TRUE: “….apart from Me (JESUS), you can do nothing…” (John 15:5 NIV).

“…God ...does the work IN AND THROUGH all of us who are his (people)… (1 Corinthians 12:4-11 NLT). “…The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance…” (Galatians 5:22-23 KJV). "....The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in [y]our lives … love.....” (Galatians 5 NLT).

Hosetta looked at her relationship with George as a disaster for many years. When it ended in divorce, she didn’t see how God could get GLORY (demonstrate his presence, his goodness, or his power) out of it!

But her marriage DID demonstrate God's GLORY and it wasn't a disaster after all, but a MESSAGE. The marriage bed "must" remain undefiled, because, IF NOT, it could END in DIVORCE.

In the SAME way, the covenant relationship with God, the Holy Spirit, must remain undefiled, or it too can END in DIVORCE. The bible warns, his people, all the time: “…those ... who then turn away from God ... by rejecting the Son of God...[are]... themselves ... nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame. …” (Hebrews 6:4-8 NLT).“…You have fallen away from God’s GRACE…” (Galatians 5:4 NLT). “... IN LATTER TIMES “SOME” SHALL [CHOOSE OR DECIDE TO] ...DEPART FROM the [CHRISTIAN] ... FAITH !!!!...” (1 Timothy 4:1-3 KJV). “...Take heed, BRETHREN, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God...” (Hebrews 3:12 KJV).

Hosetta heard the words in her head: "..turn away..." "...fallen away from..." and  "...depart from..." After 34+ years of marriage, George filed for divorce. They went through the legal process to break their vows and afterwards,  according to their state, George and Hosetta were divorced.

The reason for their divorce was being SEPARATED for longer than twelve months. George wanted the divorce and she conceded.

The legal DIVORCE was the dissolution of their marriage, the breaking of their original vows, and the end of the “George and Hosetta” chapter of life, together.

In the end, Hosetta had not cast George away, but he had cast her away. George made a decision and finally left. He’d been leaving for years, but now he’d done it physically as well.

George literally turned away from her, fell away from her, and departed from her, on every level. He moved on and completely broke EVERY vow and promise he’d ever made to her.

It was sad, disappointing, and heartbreaking, no matter what he’d done to her or he said she’d done to him, she had truly loved his soul. For Hosetta, George had been her marriage partner, her covenant companion, and the love of her life.

While the court released George of ALL his legal obligations toward her, she realized he had already voluntarily and willingly chosen to release himself of ALL spiritual obligations toward her as well.

George had rejected her. He had spiritually forsaken and abandoned too.

A wife, in her rightful place within her husband’s heart, is someone he “IS” and “WILL” be devoted to, but a mistress is one of his options.

One day, Hosetta became an option for George and when it came time for him to choose between his wife and his mistress; he DIDN’T chose her, his covenant wife.

HE, willfully and voluntarily, CHOSE the one he was DEVOTED to!


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