Love That Will Not Let Me Go

Hosea 1-3
P. G. Mathew | Sunday, December 05, 1999
Copyright © 1999, P. G. Mathew

It has been said that the book of Hosea tells the second greatest love story ever told. The first, of course, is the story of the love of our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, shown by his death on the cross in our behalf. In the book of Hosea we see the love of God for his people illustrated in the story of the marriage of a godly man, Hosea, to an adulteress, Gomer.

Background

Hosea stands first among the twelve minor prophets in the Bible. Of these twelve writing prophets, Hosea was the only one who not only came from the northern kingdom, Israel, but prophesied to it. He was a contemporary of Isaiah who prophesied in the southern kingdom of Judah.

Hosea prophesied in the eighth century B.C., around 740 B.C. to 715 B.C. This was a time of great prosperity for both Israel and Judah. Early in the eighth century, under the rule of Jeroboam II, the northern kingdom prospered and achieved the glory of the time of David and Solomon. Israel controlled various trade routes because of the weakness of the Aramean kingdom to the north and because the great power Assyria was occupied elsewhere. Judah also prospered during this time during the lengthy reign of King Uzziah. So much money was coming into Israel through extensive trade that people lived in great luxury and pleasure. It was the best of times.

The Best of Times, the Worst of Times

In the prophecy of Amos we get a picture of the security and luxury in which the people of Israel lived. In the sixth chapter of Amos we read warnings which also describe the affluent lifestyle these people were enjoying. In verse 1 we read, “Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come!” And in verses 3-7 we read, “You put off the evil day and bring near a reign of terror. You lie on beds inlaid with ivory and lounge on your couches. You dine on choice lambs and fattened calves. You strum away on your harps like David and improvise on musical instruments. You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest lotions, but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph. Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile; your feasting and lounging will end.”

It was the best of times. Materialism was reigning. Those who were rich and powerful abused the poor by legal manipulation and got richer while the poor got poorer. There seemed to be no end to the prosperity of Israel.

However, it was also the worst of times for Israel. The religion of the Israelites became void of any truth and sincerity. We read about that in Amos 5:21-24. Here God rebukes the Israelites, saying, “I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!”

The best of times, therefore, was the worst of times. It was a period when people lived a good life materially, but this materialism produced a false sense of security and independence. The people forgot about God and his covenant during the forty years–793 through 753–when they enjoyed the greatest material prosperity.

The time in which Hosea prophesied was a time like ours–a time of global trade, individual and national wealth, and no international threat to security. Do you see the similarities? As the stock market goes up and up, our homes become filled with things, and it seems the river of pleasure from which we can drink is inexhaustible. There is one problem with this picture: In the midst of materialism, we tend to forget God. Why think about heaven when we have so much on earth? In fact, we may be so satisfied with earthly pleasures that we think this is heaven. Our thoughts are occupied, not with heaven, but with plans of how we can enjoy greater and greater pleasure here on earth.

God Raises up Hosea

In the midst of this time of great wealth and spiritual poverty in Israel, God raised up a prophet, Hosea, which means salvation, to speak to the people of Israel who were deceived by their riches and living in carnal security. God’s people need salvation, not riches. And in God’s plan, Hosea’s married life became a public illustration of Israel’s relationship with God.

God directed Hosea to marry a woman named Gomer who would not be faithful to the covenant of marriage. She bore three children–two boys and a girl–who became sign children, like the children of Isaiah in Isaiah 8–whose names demonstrated God’s relationship to Israel.

The firstborn son was named Jezreel. That word has two meanings. The first meaning is “scattered, judgment, exile,” and certainly that was the sense in which that name was given. In other words, Jezreel’s name was a sign that God would soon punish and scatter Israel and destroy its military might. In Hosea 1:5 God declares, “In that day I will break Israel’s bow in the Valley of Jezreel.” God was going to put an end to Israel’s false security by destroying their military might.

The second-born child was a daughter named Lo-Ruhamah. Lo in Hebrew means “no” or “not,” and Ruhamah means “loved.” She was a sign that the covenant Lord would not love Israel because she abandoned him, her true husband.

The third-born child was a son named Lo-Ammi. Ammi means “my people,” so Lo-Ammi means “Not my people.” This was the harshest name of the three. God was saying to Israel, “I will not deal with you anymore! I refuse to own you as my people!” In other words, God will not put up with the arrogance of man forever. He will not tolerate religious syncretism–the worship of Jehovah and Baal at the same time.

God’s Sovereignty and Holiness

As we study these prophets we find a common theme, that God alone is sovereign and holy. Because God is sovereign and holy, he will not tolerate the principle of both/and, of mixing up, of syncretism. Our God is a jealous God.

In Exodus 20 we find something concerning God’s jealousy. In verse 4 we read, “You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.” And in verse 5 we read, “You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of their fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me.”

God will not tolerate religious syncretism, so he determined to pour out his judgment upon his people Israel. In 753 B.C. the great king Jeroboam II died, and by 722 B.C. Israel was no more. During Jeroboam’s reign the Israelites had lived in great luxury and carnal security, saying, “Peace, peace. Nobody can touch us.” But within a few years after Jeroboam’s death, Israel was no more. So much for the false security and arrogant self-confidence of the Israelites!

What is the lesson we learn from this? Prosperity seldom leads to holiness. Are you praying for more money? Perhaps you will get it, but be careful that it does not draw you away from God.

God Is Faithful

By 722-21 B.C. the prosperous Israelites were defeated and scattered by the Assyrians, becoming not pitied and not God’s people, just as Hosea had prophesied. Yet even this was not a final rejection. God loves his people and, in the end, he will save them. But before he does that, he must first cure them of their propensity to do evil and be stubborn and rebellious. He must cure them of their backsliding.

Although man is unfaithful to his covenant, God remains faithful. Just as Gomer became unfaithful to Hosea and went after other lovers, so also God’s people became unfaithful to the God of Israel and went after other “gods,” which are not gods at all. What did God do? He pursued Israel in love so that he might cure her of her backsliding. Because he loved her, he chastened and disciplined her. He disciplined her severely until she was cured and loved God alone from her heart.

What about you? God says to all of us, “Come to me. Come to me.” Suppose you say, “O God, I don’t want to come to you. I won’t come.” Perhaps you are like Hosea’s wife Gomer, who said in Hosea 2:5, “I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.” This is a lie, of course. What do we have that we have not received from God, the source of all blessings? All good and perfect gifts come from the Father of lights with whom there is no shadow of turning. The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy, and yet we say, “I want to go after my lovers and the things they give me. I don’t want to come to God.”

Is that what you are saying to God? Are you telling him that you don’t want to serve him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength? If so, I assure you that God will deal with you. He has several tricks up his sleeve!

God’s First Trick: Blocking Our Path

What are some of the tricks God uses to deal with us? We find the first one in Hosea 2:6: “Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.'”

If God has decided from all eternity to save us, he will do it. He knows how to do it and he is able to do it. Our all-wise, almighty God will save us in spite of our sin, stubbornness, wandering, and backsliding.

God is the divine blocker. He builds a hedge of thorns around us to hurt us and give us pain. God knows how much pain we must have and he will give it to us. Oh, we will try and try and try to get out of God’s plan, but what happens? We bump into this thorny hedge of God. If we run north, we will bump into it. If we run south, we will run into it. If we run east, we will run into it. If we run west, we will run into it. In the process, we become bruised and experience pain–spiritual, physical, psychological, social, and economic pain–pain of every kind, as we read in 1 Corinthians 11:30, “That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.”

In Lamentations 3:7 we read, “He has walled me in so I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer. He has barred my way with blocks of stone; he has made my paths crooked.”

God is sovereign and he will accomplish his goals. He is the one who, by one word, created billions of galaxies. He is the one who created all the stars, innumerable as the sands of all the beaches on earth. Do you say you don’t want to go to God? If God has chosen you, he will make you come and you will come willingly!

Removing the Hedge

So the first thing God does is put a hedge of thorns around us. What else does he do? He removes his wall of protection and leaves us open to being destroyed, as we read in Isaiah 5. Remember, these are things God does, not to the pagans but to his people who refuse to bring forth good fruit and only bring forth bad fruit.

In Isaiah 5:5 God says, “Now I tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it will be destroyed; I will break down its wall, and it will be trampled. I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and briers and thorns will grow. I will command the clouds not to rain on it.” God knows what to do. And in Psalm 80:12 we read, “Why have you broken down its walls so that all who pass by pick its grapes?” When the walls are broken down, the protection is gone.

God’s people normally have a hedge around them and so they enjoy the protection of God. In Job 1:10 we find that even Satan understands that God puts a hedge around his people: “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land.”

In 2 Kings 6 we read about Elisha and his servant being in Dothan, surrounded by the Aramean army. The servant told Elisha, “You know, we are in deep trouble. The armies of the Arameans are all around us.” And Elisha said, “Don’t worry. Those who are with us are greater than those who are with them.” When he prayed for his servant, the man’s eyes were opened, and he saw the army of God protecting Elisha and himself. A hedge!

In Zechariah 2:5 God speaks of a time when no walls of protection will be needed because God himself will be a wall of fire around his people: “‘And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will be its glory within.'”

That is what happens when we love and obey God and come to him when he calls us. God will put a hedge of protection, a wall of fire around us. But if we say we don’t want to come to him, he will take that hedge out and put in its place the hedge of thorns, which hurts us spiritually, physically, economically–in every way–until we turn around, if we are God’s elect. Otherwise, we will just continue in our sinful ways, enjoying the pleasures of sin.

Reaping the Harvest of Rebellion

God brings his people back to him, but let me tell you, your sin and rebellion will have consequences. The way of the wicked is hard, and what you sow, that you will reap. An eighteen-wheel truck will come and stop at your house, loaded with the harvest of your sin. The driver will come out and knock on the door, and when you come, he will tell you, “This harvest is for you. It is just what you ordered. It is what your sin produced.” You will look at the paper and say, “No, I didn’t order this at all.” But you did. It may have been twenty-five years ago or forty years ago, and you forgot all about it.

Remember your father who taught you the way of salvation, but you didn’t want to accept it? Remember your mother who told you Bible stories, but you didn’t want to listen? You were like a mule. You didn’t have any sense. You were stubborn and rebellious. But you were sowing all the time, and in time, there is a harvest.

Let me tell you, the seed of sin is always potent, and it brings forth a great harvest–thirty, sixty and one hundredfold. After ten years, twenty-five years, thirty years, a truck will come with the results of your sin, and you will have to sign for it and accept it. May sobriety come to you at that point! God has a way of humbling us, to teach us that man should not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God.

We do not want to hear this, but whether we like it or not, it is going to happen. God will touch our health, our money, our possessions, our wife, our husband and our children in order to get our attention. God is the Lord of all circumstances that are good, but he is also the Lord of circumstances that are bad. He uses them to bring us back to him.

God’s Second Trick: Withholding Provisions

What is the second trick of God as he brings us back to himself? In Hosea 2:8 we read, “She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold–which they used for Baal. Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens, and my new wine when it is ready. I will take back my wool and my linen, intended to cover her nakedness. So now I will expose her lewdness before the eyes of her lovers; no one will take her out of my hands.” What is God’s second trick? He will take away our provisions, which we are using for Baal, not God. But, at the same time, we remain secure in God’s hands.

In John 10:28 we read that no one can snatch those who are saved out of God’s hand. This is true, not only in salvation, but also in discipline. No one can take us out of his hand. No one! We will look for our mother and father. We will look for our president. We will look for anyone to come and put an end to God’s discipline, but it will not happen. We remain in God’s hand.

Take a look at it again: “No one will take her out of my hand.” This is real love–love that will not let us go. This is real discipline, which is designed to reform, correct, cure, and heal us. Such discipline administered by God himself will be successful.

Why does God take his provision away? Look at Hosea 2:13: “I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers. . . .” And then God adds, “‘but me she forgot,'” declares the Lord.” When God’s people forget him, he deals with them.

In Hosea 2:11 we read, “I will stop all her celebrations: her yearly festivals, her New Moons, her Sabbath days–all her appointed feasts.” When we use God’s resources to serve other gods, God puts an end to all our celebrations.

In Psalm 137 we read about the Jews who were exiled from Judah. You see, God disciplined them and now they were in Babylon. “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.” Why were they weeping? God had scattered them and taken away their provisions. “There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs of joy; they said, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!'” “Come on, now, come on!” the tormentors said. “Let’s have a hymn. Do you know any hymns? Come on, let’s have a celebration.”

What did God’s people say? “How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.” In Hosea we read that Israel decked herself with rings and jewelry, going after her lovers and forgetting about God. But God is determined to bring his people back to him, so he takes away our provision that we are lavishing on false gods.

God’s Third Trick: Stripping Away Distractions

We find God’s third trick in Hosea 2:14, “Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her.”

Did you say that you are too busy to pray? Did you say there are so many distractions that you don’t have time to look into the Book and do God’s thing? Oh, we are so busy, aren’t we? We have three children, five children, one child, and two jobs, three classes, and many, many other things to do. God, you understand. We are so very busy. There are many, many things we have to do. How can we have time to pray and read?

What does God do? He will strip us of all our distractions and lead us into a desert. Are there distractions in the desert? Not really. What about that hospital bed you find yourself lying in–are there any distractions there? Not many. What about your job and all that responsibility you said was keeping you from serving God? Well, God can take away your job. What about the children you were so busy taking care of? Well, God can take away the children also.

No one can take God’s people out of his hand. So in love and discipline he leads us into the desolation of the desert, where there is no water, no food, no light, no heat, no protection–nothing. It is just you and God, your husband.

Do you have time to pray in the desert? Oh, yes. And not only that, you must pray in the desert. Your riches are gone, so now you have to find something to eat. It is cold, and you will need some heat. It is dark and isolated, so you will need a light and protection at night and a shade by day. You become forced to look to God, and all of a sudden you do begin to pray and seek the Lord. Oh, yes, God knows how to deal with us.

And when we begin to pray, praise be to God, God will listen. This is love that will not let you go. All distractions will be gone. It will be just you and your God in the desert, communing in love.

So God ordains circumstances that are designed to remove distractions from us and cultivate relationship with him. Did you say you were too busy? You will not be busy in the desert. You have a lot of time to pray. You will read God’s word and begin to listen to the word of God preached with all attention. (PGM) Before, it was a bother. Before, you said, “This man has been preaching the same old thing all these years. He says nothing new. Same old thing.” But when God deals with us, we will say, “Preach it, Pastor! Don’t stop now. Tell me again and again the story of Jesus and his love.”

The Results of God’s Treatment

What is the result of God’s dealings with us in these ways? Our backsliding will be cured, just as the backsliding of the prodigal son was cured. Remember him? We read his story in Luke 15. He told his father, “Give me the inheritance that falls to me,” and the father gave it to him. He went away to a far country and spent his money in riotous living until it was all gone.

Finally, this man found himself having nothing–a total desert experience. He wanted to eat, but no one would give him anything. All of a sudden he came to himself and said, “I was doing pretty good when I was in my father’s house. I want to go back home. I am cured of my rebellion and stubbornness. I confess my sins to my father, saying ‘I have sinned against heaven and against you,’ and will ask his forgiveness. Then I will ask him to treat me as one of his hired men, for that is the most I deserve.” That shows a lot of healing, isn’t that true?

But the father received him and restored his son, and called for a great celebration. The son began to sing God’s praises once more. Everything was all right.

Hosea Redeems Gomer

In Hosea 3 we read that Gomer had left Hosea to live with one lover after another. Finally, however, they all rejected her, and she found herself alone, possessing nothing and in debt. Here in Hosea 3 we find her standing in the marketplace to be sold as a slave.

Here we see the love that will not let us go. In Hosea 3:1 we read, “The Lord said to me, ‘Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.'” That’s why this is the second greatest love story. After all Israel had done, God says, “I still love Israel.”

Hosea came to the marketplace where the slaves were being sold. In those days slaves were brought, stripped naked, and put on display so the buyers could evaluate their bodies. They needed to see whether they were strong or weak, emaciated or fat, because they were spending money on these slaves.

Hosea’s wife Gomer stood naked, on display with the rest of the slaves. There was an auction and Hosea outbid the others. He didn’t have thirty shekels of silver, which was the full price of a slave, so he said, “I will give you fifteen shekels of silver for her and the rest in grain.” In that way Hosea bought back his wife, clothed her, fed her, and brought her home. Oh, what love that will not let us go!

Praise God for his great mercy revealed to us in this second greatest love story! God told Hosea, “Hosea, I want you to go to Gomer and love her. I know she is an adulteress, she is terrible, she is a wanderer. But I want you to go as the redeemer and pay the full ransom price of thirty shekels.” This demonstrates the great love of God for us.

God Redeems Us

Just as Hosea found Gomer, so also God finds us in the marketplace–naked and slaves of sin. Just as Hosea loved and redeemed Gomer, so God loved and redeemed us. But God gave much more than thirty shekels for us. He sent his Son, who said, “I have come, not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give my life a ransom for many.” Oh, the high cost of redemption! We were not redeemed with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. And not only that, he still loves us and will not let us go.

In 1 Peter 1:19 we read, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” And in 1 Peter 2:24-25 we find, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree so that we might die to sins and live to righteousness; by his wounds we are healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and [Bishop] of your souls.” Such is the love of God toward miserable sinners like us!

We already mentioned the prodigal son. He hated his father and hated his home, so he took his father’s money and went to a far country where he lived a wicked life. After some time, this man discovered his lifestyle did not result in freedom. His money ran out, all the people left him, and he had nothing to eat. But he was cured. The Bible says in Luke 15, “he came to himself.” Then he decided to go to his father’s house. Praise God, there was a father to receive him. This is love that will not let us go.

We find another example in the book of Jonah. God told Jonah to go to Nineveh, but he refused. Citing his own reasons, Jonah vetoed the divine command and, in stubbornness and disobedience, got on a ship that was heading to Tarshish. But the divine blocker was with Jonah on the boat. God sent a storm, and the crew threw Jonah overboard in an attempt to stop the storm. Jonah was swallowed by a big fish who, after three days, regurgitated him onto the shore. After all this, Jonah was cured. He was healed of his backslidden condition and immediately went to Nineveh to do God’s will.

There is a God who comes to us when we won’t come to him. He loves us even when we are rebels and works a mighty redemptive work in us until we are cured and redeemed. So God sent his Son to redeem us, and we are redeemed by him and set free–free at last and free forever.

Singing God’s Praise

What is our reaction when God redeems us? Oh, we will sing praises to the Lord. We read in Hosea 2:11 and Psalm 137 that God stopped their singing and their festivals and threw them out. But now they are singing again.

In Psalm 126 we read the song of the exiles when they returned to Israel: “When the Lord brought back the captives of Zion, we were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.”

This is the love that will not let us go. In Hosea 2:15 we read, “There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.” The Valley of Achor is a metaphor for troubles, but all of a sudden that valley becomes a door opening to God’s glorious salvation. “There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.” When God cures us of our rebellion and stubbornness, we will sing.

Betrothal to God

When we return to the Lord, not only will we sing, but there will also be great love and communion between God and us. In Hosea 2:19-20 the Lord declares, “I will betroth you to me forever. . . .” No more wandering. All is healed. “I will betroth you in righteousness and justice. . . .” This is justification. “I will betroth you . . . in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.” In other words, God is saying, when we return to God, we will love him, we will recognize him, and we will have communion with him.

In verse 16 we read, “‘In that day,’ declares the Lord, ‘you will call me “my husband”; you will no longer call me “my master.”‘” Our language will change. Before, we spoke the language of syncretists, which is the language of confusion. We called Jehovah “my Lord” and Baal “my God.” It was the both/and principle. But when God cures us, we can now worship in spirit and in truth–true and sincere worship of the true God. So we read in verse 17, “I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips.” This is sanctification.

God Will Hear Our Prayers

Not only that, when we return to God, he will hear our prayers. Do you find that you are praying and praying, but there is no response? Let me tell you why there is no response: You are a rebel, and God doesn’t hear the prayer of a rebel. But when God heals and cures you, he will also respond to your prayers.

In Hosea 2:21 we read, “‘In that day I will respond,’ declares the Lord.” This is a poetic way for Hosea to express that God will once again hear the prayers of his people, now that they understand it is not the storm god that provides rain and provides fertility, but the God of heaven, the Sovereign Lord of the universe.

So we read, “‘In that day I will respond,’ declares the Lord–‘I will respond to the skies and they will respond to the earth; and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and oil.'” In other words, once again there will be rain and good weather so that the people of God will be provided with wine, grain, oil, wool and everything else they need.

When we respond to God, he responds to us. In 2 Corinthians 9:8 we read, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” Notice the repetition of the word “all.”

Not only that, when we return to God, he reverses our previous condition. Do you remember that the name Jezreel had two meanings? The first meaning was “to scatter or destroy,” but now God uses the second meaning, “to plant.” So in Hosea 2:23 we read, “I will plant her for myself in the land.” That is blessing.

What about Lo-Ruhamah and Lo-Ammi? These names are also changed. The “Lo” on each name is taken away, and God says, “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 then God concludes, “And they will say, ‘You are my God.'” That is covenant faithfulness.

Application

The book of Hosea tells us the story of God’s love–a love that will not let me go; a love that cures my backsliding; a love that will betroth me to God again in righteousness, justice, faithfulness, and compassion; a love that once again hears my prayers; a love that will supply all my needs according to God’s riches in glory; a love that will plant us, that will pity us, that will say, “You are my people,” and to whom we can say, “You alone are our God.”

What about you? Are you backslidden? Have you lost your first love? If so, you are in slavery and God will use a process to bring you back. But if you don’t want to go through that process, pay attention to the message to the church of Ephesus: “Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first” (Rev. 2:5).

Are you are an unbeliever who never trusted in Jesus Christ? If so, you must trust in Jesus Christ. He is God. He is man. He is Savior. He paid the highest price, his own life, in behalf of elect sinners. If you do, then what Peter wrote in 1 Peter 1:10 will be true of you: “Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Are you going through the Valley of Achor, which means valley of trouble? Believe in the one who suffered all troubles. It is he who said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me” (John 14:1). Jesus suffered all troubles in behalf of you, and now he speaks to you, saying he will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope and salvation.

What about married people? Oh, this book of Hosea speaks to you, does it not? Do you think of leaving your spouse whenever you find some kind of weakness in him or her? Here is a great example of forgiveness. Even if your spouse committed adultery and you have proof of it, you don’t have to go to court. You can forgive, as God forgives us sinners.

Love That Will Not Let Us Go

God sent his Son into this world, to the marketplace of slavery to sin, and found us there–naked, totally depraved, dead in trespasses and sins, totally enslaved by Satan, the god of this world. But God came and redeemed us, buying our freedom with the blood, not of bulls and goats, but of his one and only Son, Jesus Christ. He purchased our freedom and now we are free–free at last–free forever, free to serve God, free to have peace, free from the fear of death, and free to live forever with him in his presence, where there is fullness of joy and pleasures evermore.

Oh, that we would appreciate Jesus Christ, the great Lover of our souls! The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy and deceive us, but Jesus Christ comes to save us. May God give us understanding into his unfailing and everlasting love that disciplines us and brings us back to our senses and back to him when we stray. May we always thank him for bringing us back to him and enabling us to acknowledge him and enjoy great, intimate communion with God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Even today may we repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and experience this love that will not let us go! Amen.