I Once Was Lost...

I will plant her for myself in the land;
    I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.[h]’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,[i]’ ‘You are my people’;
    and they will say, ‘You are my God.’” (Hosea 2:23)

I have not spent much time in the book of Hosea and I am not certain why. The closest I came was when I read a book called Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. This novel is a beautiful story of love and forgiveness. It is a story of human frailties and folly, but also a tender tale of forgiveness and pure love.

Hosea is a book about God's love for His people and His promise to take them back when they surrender to Him. Hosea is a lesson in redemption which holds out for us, another chance to do the next right thing.

This book is an encouragement to us, when we are lost. It is reassurance of God's love and His plan to pursue us and give us opportunity after opportunity to accept Him right up until the day Jesus returns. The only catch is, we don't have a clue when that day will be.

We are not guaranteed a given amount of time here on earth. No one knows when he or she will breathe their last breath. It is foolish to wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow may never arrive; we may not have another chance to change our destiny. And even if we did, why wait? Why go another day without experiencing the hope that comes from a new lease on life?

In the book I mentioned earlier, Angel, Hosea's wife kept returning to her life of sin because she did not feel worthy of love.  She was more comfortable in the life and surroundings she came from and no amount of talking on the part of her husband could convince her different.

Eventually, Hosea won her over, but it was a grueling story and one that often mirrors our own stories. Read this beautiful book of the Bible with a new attitude.  See if you don't feel God's love and forgiveness in your heart even now. 

What there ever a time in your life when you wondered if and how God could ever pursue you?

What feelings did you experience when you repented and turned back to Him?
Hosea 2:14-23