"I will go back to my place until they admit their guilt. And they will seek my face; in their misery they will earnestly seek me." "Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."
Hosea 5:15-6:3
Faithful Love
Recently I received a "save the date" wedding invite in the mail. I am very excited for the couple and think they are a great match for each other.
Do you think the people of Israel had the same reaction when they received Hosea's "save the date" invite? Probably not! This was an unlikely match. Hosea was a faithful prophet of God and his bride-to-be was an unfaithful prostitute.
If that didn't get the people's attention, then this should have: God was the one who told Hosea to marry this woman. If that still didn't get their attention, then what happened next in Hosea's marriage was truly notable. Hosea's bride broke her marriage vows and returned to her old, unfaithful ways. But rather than divorcing her, God told faithful Hosea to show love to his unfaithful bride again. (Hosea 1:1-3; 3:1)
Surely Hosea's marriage had people talking. It was supposed to! God wanted Hosea's love to exemplify God's faithful love for his unfaithful people. So often the people of Israel gave their hearts and their devotion to other gods and other things. Yet time and time again God reached out through prophets like Hosea calling his people to return to his faithful love.
Are we any different than Israel? One Christian writer commented, "Human history…is the long terrible story of man trying find something other than God to make him happy." Our sinful hearts wander in unfaithfulness to other lovers too. Yet time and time again our God calls us to return to his faithful love. Time and time again he comes to restore us with love we don't deserve, but that he so freely gives because of Christ Jesus. And God's faithful love heals and revives our hearts to live as his dearly loved bride!
Prayer:
Heavenly Father, help me to live each day as your dearly loved bride. Forgive me when my heart wanders. And when it does, turn me back to your healing and restoring love. In Jesus' name. Amen.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide.
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