"I Will Allure You"

Read: Hosea 2:14-20

In January of 2006, I discovered that my first husband of nearly 25 years was having an affair.  It was not his first. I guess that is why the story of Hosea the prophet resonates with me so much.

I could say that Hosea’s story resonates with me because God had called him to a very unusual calling, to marry a prostitute, a woman who would be unfaithful to him.  

While it is true that I felt God’s calling to marry my high school sweetheart, the one whom I stood by when everyone else gave up on him, that is not the real reason Hosea’s story speaks to me.

It is true that through 25 years of marriage, he was unfaithful to me more times than I care to remember, and likely more than I even know.   Despite six long, grueling years of counseling, years where we peeled back layers and layers of dysfunction in our lives, and I was always wondering when the next shoe would drop, those are not the reasons Hosea’s story speaks to me either. 

That night in 2006 that I discover my first husband’s most recent affair, I confronted him, and he left our home.  I called my friend Christine.  She came to my house, it was after 10 pm.  What she said to me that night was, “Mary, I want you to remember this one thing!  God is your husband!”

I that moment, I realized that I had been the unfaithful one, at least to God.  I had allowed the illusion of a perfect life, with the perfect husband, to be my idol.  Now it was time to let that idolatrous house of cards come tumbling down.

God had to allure me into a wasteland of divorce to break me free.  As I drove to court to finalize our divorce in September of 2006, I was blasting this song in my car, and singing with gut wrenching strength and tears streaming down my face. 

“You’re ALL I WANT!  Your ALL I’VE EVER NEEDED!  You’re ALL I WANT!  Help me know you are near!” 

When you are going through the wilderness, Valley of Achor, where trouble seems to be all around and there is no way out, God is providing a door of HOPE! 

He is calling you, speaking tenderly to you, alluring you.  He is drawing you closer, inviting you to a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him.  

He declares, “Come back to me, my Love!
Do not call me ‘My Master.’ 
Call me ‘My Husband.’”