DAY 64Daniel 9:1 - Hosea 13:6
Tucked away in the latter half of the Old Testament, is an amazing illustration of God's love found in the book of Hosea.
It is the story of Hosea and Gomer, the love of a man for his adulterous wife. It is the story of God's love for the adulterous Israel. It is the story of the bridegroom Jesus' love for His adulterous bride, the church. It is the story how much God loves His children. It is the story of a loving God, a faithless follower, and the alluring deceptions of the world.
Notice that God told Hosea that his wife would be unfaithful before he married her. An interesting reminder that God knew you and I would be unfaithful, but He still loved us.
It is a story about the alluring affects of the world we live in and how faithless we are. Just like Gomer, we "go after lovers" who give us things that we desire. Just like Gomer, we fail to "acknowledge that God was the one" who provided for us. And just like Gomer, we are adulterers of the heart. We have left the the Most High God who made a covenant of love with us. Just like Israel in Hosea 4:1 "There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgement of God in the land."
Hosea follow's God's command and retrieves and redeems Gomer, purchasing her from another lover. And loves her again like the Lord loves Israel.
And it is a symbol of how our God pursues. The Lord states His plan: "Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her" and "In that day, declares the Lord, you will call me 'my husband" Just like Homer, He redeems his people and pays for them with the sacrifice of His Son.
And those that return to the Lord, He says to them:
"I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord." (2:19-20)
and
"I will heal their waywardness and love them freely" (14:4)
There is a Gomer in all of us, we have all been unfaithful and adulterous to our God. But because of His compassion and love, He has redeemed us with His Son. And because of Jesus, we are faithful and righteous. Because of Jesus, the Lord God says "You are my people" and we can say "You are my God."
