Quick Thoughts: The Trials of Prophets and Disciples

I was reading in Jeremiah the other day and I came upon this:

The word of the Lord came to me: 'You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.' Jeremiah 16:1-2

So, Jeremiah was forbidden the pleasures of married life. But he wasn't alone in being deprived. Jeremiah's situation made me think of what happened to Ezekiel.

The word of the Lord came to me: 'Son of man, behold, I am about to take the delight of your eyes away from you at a stroke; yet you shall not mourn or weep, nor shall your tears run down. Sigh, but not aloud; make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban, and put your shoes on your feet; do not cover your lips, nor eat the bread of men.' So I spoke to the people in the morning, and at evening my wife died. And on the next morning I did as I was commanded. Ezekiel 24:15-18 

Ezekiel was married. But then, the God whom he served faithfully killed his wife as an object lesson to the people Ezekiel was ministering to.

Then, of course, there is Hosea.

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.' 

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. Hosea 1:2; 3:1-2

Hosea was commanded to marry a prostitute. And then, after she left him and slept around with other men, he was commanded to buy her back (Had she become a slave?) to love her[!] as his wife.

These men suffered at God's command. And they suffered as those who were being faithful. How would we react if God were to do to us what He did to those men? Should we expect that God might call us to such hardship?

Actually, He just might.

Jesus said,

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. Luke 9:23-24