Why did God tell Hosea to Marry a Prostitute?

I read the book of Hosea, and I have thought and thought about it: WHY in the WORLD would God want Hosea to marry a prostitute? According to the story he had nothing but bad with her.

I can understand that God wanted to teach Hosea to love like God. But for what purpose? What did all this accomplish for anyone but Hosea?

Then, I started thinking about all the things out there that people did saying that they felt they were "led by God", but it didn't turn out so well. And, I remember my pastor at the 1st Bikers Church in Texarkana preaching that we should always be SURE we are being led by God before we act, that God would never lead us to do anything that went against His Will...and you can find His Will in the Bible.

I wonder what scriptures led Hosea to marry a prostitute? (Which also made me wonder if, in fact, maybe all those people who went wayward, thinking they were led by God, may have really been led by God!)

FINALLY, it dawned on me that it wasn't the fact that he married a prostitute that was the lesson -- and aside from learning how to love like God, the assignment wasn't the prostitute AT ALL!

No.

The assignment Hosea was given by God was to TELL THE STORY.

ChaCHING!

ALL of us have gone and done some pretty wayward things and wondered how God could use our experience to teach a lesson.

The answer is this:

WE ALL HAVE A STORY TO TELL. And it is our story that leads others toward the right paths.