God’s Restoring Love
To Israel, a land steeped in idolatry,
God sends the prophet Hosea.
Just as God foretold, Gomer deserts
her prophet-husband for others –
a painful but graphic depiction of
Israel’s faithlessness in response
to God’s royal love. When Gomer
sinks to the level of a slave, Hosea
is commanded to buy her back,
for she is still his wife. In the same
way the God of Israel pledges
His continuing love for His people,
even though their spiritual adultery
will result in captivity & enslavement
at the hands of the Assyrians.
Hosea was commanded by God to
marry a woman who was unfaithful
in marriage and would cause him
much heartaches. Just as Gomer
lost interest in Hosea and ran after
other lovers,we too can easily affect
our relationship with God when we
pursue desires that don’t include
Him. And when we compromise our
Christian life-styles & adopt ways of
the world we can become unfaithful.
Lord, grateful for Your sacrificial love.
Help us Flee from Bad Influence;
Help us Purpose to Obey You; and
Help us Remember Your Love. Amen
Lord, we will aspire to Obey:
When the Lord began to speak
through Hosea, the Lord said to him:
Go, take to yourself an adulterous
wife and children of unfaithfulness
because the land is guilty of the
vilest adultery in departing from
the Lord. So he married Gomer…
and she conceived and bore him
a son… Gomer had another son.
And the Lord said: Call him Lo-Ammi
for you are not my people and I am
not your God. Yet the Israelites will
be like the sand on the seashore,
which cannot be counted. In the
place where it was said: You are not
my people, they will be called sons
of the living God (Hos 1:2-3, 8-10).
Lord, sometimes Your commands
make no sense at all and the cost
to obey them really unattractive.
Nevertheless help me to obey in
response to Your sacrificial love.
Help me see the lost and hurting
people with Yr heart of love. Amen.
Lord, we will Flee Bad Influence:
I will fence her in with thornbushes.
I will block the road to make her lose
her way. When she runs after her
lovers, she won’t be able to catch
up with them. She will search for
them but not find them (Hos 2:6-7).
Lord, I ask You to build a hedge of
thorns around my family to separate
them from influence not ordained
by You. I pray that those who are
a bad influence will lose interest
and flee and that we would lose
interest in them as well. May that
hedge of thorns defend against
any contact with those who are
out of Your will. In Jesus’ name.
Lord, we’ll Remember Your Love:
The Lord said to me: Go show your
love to your wife again, though she…
is an adulteress. Love her as the
Lord loves the Israelites, though
they turn to other gods… so I
bought her for fifteen shekels
of silver… Then I told her: You are
to live with me… You must not be…
intimate with any man (Hos 3:1-3).
Lord, grateful that You are so eager
to forgive and to restore Your people.
Grateful that we have so much to
gain from being reconciled to God,
yet it is Christ who paid the price.
Grant us the grace for renewed
commitment to love You even as
died for us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.