Daily Verse Devo - Hosea 6:1-3
“Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces; now he will heal us. He has injured us; now he will bandage our wounds. In just a short time he will restore us, so that we may live in his presence. Oh, that we might know the Lord! Let us press on to know him.He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn or the coming of rains in early spring.”
-Hosea 6:1-3 (NLT)
In the Bible, God would ask the prophets to do a lot of weird things as a symbol for the Israelite's relationship with God.
God asked Hosea to marry a prostitute.
God also told Hosea what to name their three children:
Jezreel means "God sows" and was a sign that God would break Israel's military power in the Jezreel Valley.
Lo-ruhamah means"not loved" because God would not continue showing love to Israel.
Lo-ammi means "not my people" because God would disown Israel.
Though Hosea starts off very depressing, there is redemption. God promises that he will not remove His love from Israel forever.
Just like Israel, Hosea's wife Gomer was unfaithful. She chased after other men just as Israel chased after other gods.
God then told Hosea to love his wife again. She had sold herself as a prostitute, so he had to buy her back for fifteen pieces of silver, five bushels of barley, and a measure of wine.
Can you imagine how hard that would have been?
If I was married and my husband left me for other women, I can't imagine ever letting him into my life again. Much less, paying for him to come back.
This took a lot of love and sacrifice on Hosea's behalf.
And the beautiful part?
This is exactly what God did for Israel and what He does for us today.
We were slaves to sin, sold to the powers of darkness in this world. We didn't know or love God, but He first loved us. He sent Jesus to die on the cross to pay the price for our sin debts.
And even now, how many times do I put other things ahead of God? How often do I chase notoriety or guys or anything I think will satisfy more than God?
Hosea's life is a reminder of God's love for us. Even though we've been unfaithful, God loves us and will buy us back.
Hosea 6:1-3 is a call to repentance. It's also a challenge to truly get to know the Lord. This happens by developing a personal relationship with Jesus and taking time to read the Bible and pray.
Life gets busy. People let us down. It's easy to be unfaithful.
But God's love is amazing. He longs for us to put Him first and to love Him back.