A Deeper Relationship

God called Hosea to take “a wife of harlotry” (Hosea 1:2). In the process, his life became a symbol of how God’s people had acted unfaithfully toward Him. Through Hosea’s example, God called on Israel to repent. He also demonstrated that, in spite of their sins, He continued to love them and was ready to reveal His great mercy and grace.

God wanted a deeper relationship with His people-a relationship of love, tenderness, and intimacy. In the language of marriage, He wanted them to call Him “my Husband.”

Sovereignly, He would cleanse them, create a climate of peace and rest, and “betroth” them “forever” (v. 19). It would be a marriage based not on their sins, but on “righteousness and justice, in loving kindness and mercy.” They had been faithless, but God would “betroth” them “in faithfulness” (vs. 19-20).

Although His people deserved judgment, God would show them mercy, and this mercy would be accompanied by evangelism. He would “say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!'”

God looks at us in the same way. He knows our hearts and has seen the times we’ve forsaken Him and allowed sin to corrupt our lives. As Paul wrote, God knows that none of us is “righteous, not even one,” for “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:10,23). Yet He graciously reaches out to us: “By grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8).

Today, God yearns for you to accept His love and move into a deeper relationship with Him. Seek His presence. Read His Word, and spend time with Him. Fall in love with Him!