God's Steadfast Love as Shown in Hosea

“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.” Hosea 2:19-20

Hosea is such a captivating book of the Bible.  It’s hard to comprehend the challenging nature of Hosea’s ministry.  God asked him to marry a harlot, and when she was unfaithful, God asked him to go and love her and bring her home again.  This seems like a hard ask, but it is the perfect picture of God’s relationship with Israel and with us. 

God loved Israel from the very beginning.  He says, “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.  The more they were called, the more they went away; they kept sacrificing to the Baals and burning offerings to idols.  Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk; I took them up by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them.  I led them with cords of kindness, with bands of love.”   This is such a tender description of a Father raising His child.  He lovingly leads His child.  He holds out his hands and teaches him to walk.  This calls to mind God rescuing his people from famine and bringing them to Egypt, then later calling them out of Egypt.  He tenderly led them through the wilderness providing for all of their needs.  But still they forgot and went after other gods. 

God feels the same way about you and I.  “Out of Egypt I called my son” is also a Messianic prophesy.  God loved us so much that he sent His Son to die for us.  He took us up in his arms when he baptized us and made us His children.  He has been leading us all our lives with cords of kindness and bands of love.  And yet, we also forget him.  We go after our own gods.  We like to find things that we think will make our life better.  When in reality God is the only thing that will make our life better. 

Hosea 2:5-8 is a striking progression.  “For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’  Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, so that she cannot find her paths.  She shall pursue her lovers but not overtake them, and she shall seek them but shall not find them.  Then she shall say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband, for it was better for me then than now.  And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they use for Baal.”

Can you relate?  How many times haven’t we all chased after things that we think will make our lives easier or better instead of chasing after the God who can actually make our lives better.  Do you try to escape the stress of your day by scrolling on your phone instead of praying or meditating on God’s word?  Spoiler alert, scrolling doesn’t help your stress.  Do you think, If I only had that thing, or more money, or a bigger house, or more time, everything would be better.  Those are all idols that we think will make our lives better, but we forget that it is God who is giving us everything.  Even something as simple as seeking after the perfect cleaning routine to make our life easier, can become a God if it is all consuming.  Remember God says,  “Seek first the Kingdom of God and all these things will be added unto you.”  Does it ever feel like you are pursuing something and it just continually remains out of reach?  Could this passage be the reason?  Could that thing be an idol and God is hedging your way in order to bring you back to him?

We are just like the Israelites, chasing after idols instead of loving God with all our hearts and mind.  But God loves the Israelites and us with an amazing unconditional love.  Even though we desert him time and time again, He still says, “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.” Hosea 2:19-20

He will betroth us to himself forever!  This will ultimately be fulfilled at the end of the world, when we, the bride, go to live with God forever in eternity.  However, he has already betrothed us to himself in righteousness and in justice.  It’s amazing to think that He could betroth us to himself in righteousness.  Because as we have seen, we couldn’t be farther from righteous.  And God is a just God who must punish sin.  “The soul who sins shall die”  Ezekiel 18:20.  The only way, of course, that He could betroth himself to us is through Christ.  Christ’s perfect life is given to us.  We are clothed in robes of righteousness because of Christ’s sacrifice for us on the cross. “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.” Isaiah 61:10

He also betroths himself to us in steadfast love.  Our love is anything but steadfast, but thank the LORD, His love is not conditional.  It is not based on how lovable we are.  His love never changes, never waivers, never goes away.  He loves us always and forever.  “‘For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,’ says the LORD, who has compassion on you.”  Isaiah 54:10 

Finally, he betroths us to himself in mercy.  He has mercy on us.  We are spiritual harlots.  We should be absolutely detestable to God for “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.  We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”  Isaiah 64:6  But God has mercy (compassion) on us.  He cares for us and loves us and wants to help us out of our pitiful condition.  “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”  Lamentations 3:22-23

Let's take this passage with us this month as we remember the amazing steadfast love that God has for each one of us.  And may that love move us to seek Him and trust in Him with all our heart!