Wayward Israel

The story of Hosea has some powerful lessons to teach us. Hosea’s

situation is remarkable. His wife, Gomer, runs away and has children

with other men. Though she is sexually unfaithful, God calls Hosea to

take his wife back and fully show his love to her again. This story is

meant as a parable about God and Israel. The Israelites had left God

and were prostituting themselves spiritually to other gods, but God

still loved them and wanted to show His love to them. But just look at

God’s methods!

Read Hosea 2:1–12. What methods does God say He will use to pull

Israel back to Himself? What would these experiences have felt

like?

Hosea 2:2, 3

Hosea 2:5–7

Hosea 2:8, 9

Hosea 2:10

This story raises two important issues about the way we experience

God when He is bringing us to repentance.

First, we risk not recognizing that God is at work. When Israel went

through such hard and painful experiences, it might have been hard for

them to recognize that their God was working for their salvation. When

our path is blocked by sharp thorns or we are walled in so that we don’t

know where we are going (Hos. 2:6)—is this God? When our basic

necessities disappear or we are embarrassed (Hos. 2:9, 10)—could our

Father be in the middle of it all? The truth is that whatever we feel,

God is always working to bring us to repentance, because He loves us

so very much.

Second, we risk misunderstanding God when He is at work. We may

recognize that God is at work, but we don’t like what He’s doing. While

we are feeling hurt and embarrassed, it is easy to blame God for being

cruel, for not intervening, or for not caring. But God is always working

to renew us through His covenant of love.

Read Hosea 2:14–23. What does this passage reveal about God?

Ask the Holy Spirit to show you if you have been running from

God in any area of your life. If you are convicted that you have

been, why wait to go through the crucible? What’s stopping you

from surrendering all to the Lord now?