A Character Actor

Hosea 1:2-3 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

We love watching British TV shows, British mini-series, and British comedy movies. Do you notice a theme? The more we watch, the more we realize that the pool of actors stays pretty much the same. We see the same faces again and again. They play very different rolls and they support the plot moving forward.

Most actors want to be lead actors. They want to be the ones about whom the whole plot revolves. They want to be in every scene. And they want the bigger paycheck!

There are some actors, after they realize they aren’t lead character material, settle on being a character actor. They play the smaller, supporting roles. These roles often are a bit quirky and interesting. The point to the lead actors, supporting and filling out the narrative. They add spice.

Hosea writes before the Northern Kingdom goes into exile. The LORD writes the script very differently for Hosea than He did for many of the other prophets. Hosea’s very life, his family, become the illustration of the problem being faced by the Northern Kingdom.

But as with so many plots, the people, including Hosea himself, are just character actors. They are playing a role with the Lead Actor being center stage. They fill out the illustration in an effort to call Israel once again to repentance. They hadn’t heeded the previous messages by the other prophets, so the LORD writes a play with Hosea, his prostitute wife and their three soon to be born children playing supporting roles.

Now you might balk at being a character actor, there to support the Lead, but that is what we are. The LORD has written the script about His relationship with humanity. He plays the lead role. He is the hero. We end up being the loved bumbling sidekick. We can’t seem to get anything right. We are always getting into trouble and the Lead has to bail us out.

Now what the LORD hopes is that we become better at supporting His part. He wants us to point to Him. After all, He is the One deserving of the applause and awards. Unless of course there is a “Bumbling Idiot” award. I think we could all qualify for this one.

We are loved, even when our performance doesn’t match His high standards. We are to be holy as He is holy. Quite a high standard. But the LORD still loves us and wants us to get better at this thing called life.