Hosea --- Gods desire for us to be His is not altered even when we sin

I love the book of Hosea. Hosea was a prophet who God used to minister to the rebellious people of Israel. God uses the prophet Hosea to Illustrate his love and judgment to the people of Israel. God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute, a unfaithful woman. They have have three kids and God commands Hosea to name the first child Jezreel... which means to sow or to scatter... The next child God commanded to be named No Mercy...as a judgment on the people of Israel, The next Child was named Not my people.

God is comparing Israel to the prostitute... Who has been unfaithful to God and has taken all the gifts that God has given her and squandered them away in sacrifices to Baal. God says that he will take away the baals and the lovers of Israel and punish Israel... then God says


"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. "And in that day, declares the LORD, you will call me 'My Husband,' and no longer will you call me 'My Baal.'For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety.
And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the LORD. "And in that day I will answer, declares the LORD, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, 'You are my people'; and he shall say, 'You are my God.

God then tells Hosea to go to his unfaithful wife... and Tell her to stop being a prostitute be with her and tell her to come back to him as his wife.


In this time adultery deserved stoning according to the Law... and the people of Israel was continually defying, and rebelling against a God for hundreds of years... There names were litteraly No mercy and Not my people... and God is still using words like He will "alure her back to Him and speak tenderly to her." Gods love is a love that loves us despite our utter rejection of Him and our embrace of Sin. He still desires to allure us back to Him with tender words...

This kind of love... is Amazing amazing as a Husband seeking after his unfaithful wife attempting to allure her back from her other lovers. Gods desire for us to be His is not altered even when we sin...

I don't feel like I did a good job of expressing the beauty and truth that this book speaks... but for me when I read Hosea... I see Gods amazing desire for us, as a people...and for me, to be His. And that is a characteristic of our amazing God... so read Hosea if you have not... and If you have... be reminded of Gods steadfast love... His desire for us to be His... the Pain in His heart when we are unfaithful... And the judgment that follows.

SO I continually try to remind myself to be faithful to God for he is more than faithful to us. God is so full of grace and mercy. So often we get what we don't deserve, and we don't get what we do deserve.

even though I use this scripture verse so much (its the title of the blog) I am going to end with it... Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast to hope we profess for He who promised is faithful.