Allure of Love
“Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness 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 respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.”
Hosea 2:14-15
Yesterday, there were strong words of rebuke and condemnation regarding the Israelites adultery with idols, unfaithfulness to God. However in today’s passage, the next portion, we see God restoring the relationship between Him and the Israelites. God promises not to forsake His people and He promises a renewed relationship with His people, a relationship that is restored after judgment. God said He will allure them. When I look at that word, I can’t help but to think that the only way God will allure them is to continuously show His people abundant and amazing love. Agape, an unconditional love with supreme commitment. The Israelites will praise God once again, like they have done in the past.
Hosea and Gomer had three sons: Jezreel, Lo-Ruhamah, and Lo-Ammi. Each one had a meaning behind their name. Lo-Ruhamah means not loved, Lo-Ammi means not my people. Yet here in our passage this morning, God says I will show love to the one I called “not loved” and I will declare to the one called “Not my people” and refer to them as “You are my people” and they will respond with “You are my God.” A depiction of God restoring His people in His sovereign grace.
There was once a king who had suffered tremendous amount of difficulties from his subjects that were rebellious against his rule. However the rebellious subjects one day surrendered their arms, threw themselves at the King’s feet, and were begging for the King to forgive them and show them leniency with mercy. The King immediately pardoned them all. One of his advisors came to the King and reminded him of what the King had once said, “Didn’t you say that every rebel in your kingdom should die?” The King replied, “I did say that but I see no rebels here today.”
We read here that when God betroth us, we will acknowledge Him. How do we acknowledge and respond to God? Jesus said to keep His commandments. The greatest relationships are relationships that are built on a strong foundation of unconditional love. This love is found in righteousness, justice, compassion, and faithfulness. We are commanded to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul. We are also commanded to love our neighbors just as ourselves. God is love and part of that love includes forgiving one another just as Christ forgave us. We acknowledge God’s love by not only loving Him but also loving one another. Giving each other benefit of doubt, forgiving one another, displaying compassion to one another, remaining faithful to one another.
Sometimes people will disappoint us, sometimes they will not meet our expectations, sometimes they will fall into sin - but our God is a loving God and faithful in His love towards His people, we too can be loving and forgiving thus displaying our faithfulness to what God has commanded us. We can’t do this ourselves, we need the Lord to help us and through His Spirit guide us to love.
“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.”
Proverbs 3:3
Be disciplined and intentional in keeping love and faithfulness as a priority in our Christian life. It says in verse 3 to “let love and faithfulness never leave you, bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.” This is what God has commanded us in the great commandments of Matthew 22:34-40.
Of course, being disciplined and intentional is not easy. We can’t do it within our own might or ability, therefore we must as the author writes in verse 5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in al your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” We must trust in God to help us remain faithful in love unto Him and one another. We can’t do it based on our own understanding, feelings, thoughts, etc. We must trust in God that He will guide us.
Just as love and faithfulness must be bound around our neck, the author encourages his son to also not let wisdom and understanding out of our sight. Preserve discernment and wisdom and wear it as an ornament to our neck. How do we do this? We must humble ourselves and seek wisdom. What happens when we seek God and wisdom? We will not have to be afraid when we lie down, we get to sleep snuggly without any fear in our hearts, we have no anxiety of what is next - all because the Lord will be at our side.
