Spend time in prayer and silence with God asking Him to meet with you and speak to you.
Bible Reading
The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.” So I bought fer for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.” For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or household gods. Afterward, the Israelites will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to His blessings in the last days.
– Hosea 3:1-5
Devotion
The most impactful moment in the Hosea-Gomer story came when Hosea was commanded by God to go and “love his wife again” even though she had left Him for other lovers. Thus, the message is that God would someday “buy back” His beloved people from their captivity. God would bring His people back home and gradually restore them to Himself in purity and faithfulness.
The Big Question
What a beautiful picture Hosea paints of God’s redemption of all of us! Through the death of Christ, God paid the price to buy us off the slave-market of sin and death. He takes us home and begins to restore our lives and our relationship with Him. No matter how far we have gone from Him, His ridiculous love reaches out to bring us home! How does Hosea’s faithful love challenge you to be faithful?
Spend some time in prayer meditating on what God revealed to you today.