Hosea 2:14-20

Spend time in prayer and silence with God asking Him to meet with you and speak to you.

Bible Reading

“But then I will win her back again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there. I will return her vineyards to her and transform the valley of Achor into a gateway of hope. She will give herself to me there, as she did long ago when she was young, when I freed her from captivity in Egypt. In that day, you will call Me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call Me ‘my master.’ I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked. In that day, I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety. 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.

– Hosea 2:14-20

Devotion

Characteristic of the prophet’s writings, there are quick shifts in the picture as God looks to the future day when He will renew His covenant relationship with Israel and win her heart back to Him. One moment God is lamenting His unfaithful bride; but the next He is planning on how to win her back to Him again. The story of Hosea and Gomer show what lengths God would go to in order to reconcile His people to Himself. Reconciliation is at the core of God’s heart.

The Big Question

In 2 Corinthians chapter five, Paul writes, “Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them, and He has committed to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are Christ’s ambassadors!” God’s concern for humanity extends to all who are created in His image. “It’s not the will of the Father that any should perish!” Have you been reconciled to God through faith in His Only Begotten Son; Jesus? Are you an ambassador for Christ involved in the ministry of reconciliation and proclaiming the message of reconciliation to everyone that is far from God? Does your heart beat like God’s heart?

Spend some time in prayer meditating on what God revealed to you today.