“Let me show you how I feel,” God is, in effect, saying to his people through Hosea, as he directs him to marry an adulterous woman. Prophets were often called to embody the message they proclaimed in some way, so this is not unusual. Hosea’s painful situation is recorded to remind us that God is often grieved because God always loves. If God had not loved, he would not be grieved when his beloved people turn away from him so coldly. Not only had Israel betrayed God and given themselves over to the ravages of other gods, but they were wearing the pretence of faithfulness. This was evident in their King, Jehu, who passed himself off as a crusader for Yahweh as he massacred his potential rivals. In fact, he was given over entirely to the ‘god’ of his ambition. “You are unfaithful to me,” says God to Israel, “and you won’t even admit it.” Such is the pain of God revealed here in the book of Hosea. Even as God expresses his pain though, he also expresses his longing for reconciliation, as costly as this would be to him. He declares that despite what Israel has done he longs to reinstate them as his people. However unfaithful we may have been to God in our life he always longs for reconciliation if we will only admit our wrongs. He not only longs for this but promises that, if we turn back to him, he will reinstate us as ‘children of the living God’. To this end, God chooses to speak tenderly to you (2:14) to draw you back to his embrace.
Admit where you may have been unfaithful to God and receive his forgiveness and love afresh.
Read Hosea 1-3
