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Hosea's Lesson (Battles series part 4)

Craig Borlase

10th June 2014

The whole Bible provides a narrative around a theme: God is involved with the world he created. It's not a tale of isolation or separation, not the great divorce, but the faithful love of the ultimate good father for his wayward children.

Take Hosea. He was one of the good guys. Living amongst a bunch of people who were straying from God's path, he faithfully delivered God's word over many years, even marrying the prostitute Gomer as a prophetic act that showed the tragic demise in the relationship between Israel and God.

Hosea’s words reflect both his own sense of personal betrayal and God’s sorrow at Israel’s unfaithfulness. It’s profoundly moving, and then profoundly shocking as Hosea says:

'Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her… "In that day," declares the Lord, "you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master'.' (Hosea 2:14 & 16)

What an odd word to kick off with, 'therefore'. Shouldn't it be more like 'you deserve all this punishment but instead I am going to have you back?' Shouldn't he be having them back in spite of what they deserve? 

No. God’s grace is extravagant, excessive and infinitely accessible. We cannot shock God, but we can cause him sorrow. God’s desire to forgive our sin, now that truly is shocking.