14 "Therefore I am now going to allure her;
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her back her vineyards,
and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
There she will sing as in the days of her youth,
as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
16 "In that day," declares the LORD,
"you will call me 'my husband';
you will no longer call me 'my master. '
17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips;
no longer will their names be invoked.
...
23 I will plant her for myself in the land;
I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one. '
I will say to those called 'Not my people, ' 'You are my people';
and they will say, 'You are my God.' " Hosea2:14-23
Yesterday we saw Gomer's failure in detail and it was made clear that she had brought sad destruction on her own head.
BUT once again, God surprises us with Grace instead of Wrath.
And notice the nature of Grace:
He is not standing there with His arms folded and foot-tapping saying "Well, you miscreant... if you come crawling back to me, I may just forgive you..."
The picture painted here is breath-taking in the extent of its love:
- God intends to allure Israel - to woo her back. He pursues her!
- He wants to restore vineyards and turn the Valley of Achor ("Trouble") into a door of hope.
- He wants her to call Him "Husband" not "Master"
- He wants to woo her to the extent that she never names Baal again.
- He wants to plant her, love her and make her His.
The parable of the Prodigal Son tells the same story as the Father _runs_ to his son and gives him a robe and a ring.
This is the heart of our God:
- He shows mercy and love when we least deserve it
- He gives hope and restoration to those far lost
- To those who rejected Him He shows love and makes us His.
Charles Wesley put it like this:
And can it be that I should gain
An interest in my Saviour's blood
Died He for me who caused His pain
For me, who Him to death pursued
Amazing Love! How can it be?
That Thou O God shouldst die for me?
Amazing Love! How can it be?
That Thou O God shouldst die for me?
Let's worship Him this weekend!!
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
