And I will punish her for the feast days of the Baals when she burned offerings to them and adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers and forgot me, declares the Lord. Therefore…
– Hosea 2:13
Actually, let me pause right there before I read the rest of Hosea 2:14, because it’s one of the most amazing verses in the entire Bible. So just soak in what God has just said in Hosea 2:13.
Hosea 2:13 reveals the condition of our fallen hearts.
So if you know anything about the Book of Hosea, there’s a picture of spiritual adultery in this book of the Bible. Hosea marries a prostitute who is unfaithful to him as a picture of God’s love for his unfaithful bride. How the people of Israel had been unfaithful to him. And Hosea 2:13 is a summary of what God’s people have done. They’ve run after other Gods, baals, and offered burnt offerings to them, and gone after– the words in Hosea 2:13 are, “Went after her lovers and forgot me, declares the Lord”.Just totally forgot him. You just think about the offense of a people who totally forget the one true God and run after all of these other gods who totally forget the one true holy God who is worthy of all worship.
Now, the next word in Hosea 2:14 is “therefore”. So, in light of this, what is God going to do? And we know his holiness. He’s a holy judge. We know God’s people at this point deserve judgment before him, and it would be just for God to show that judgment to them. But listen to these words in Hosea 2:14. God says,
Therefore, in light of your sin, in light of your spiritual adultery, behold I will allure her and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.
– Hosea 2:14
Isn’t that not amazing that the Holy Judge of the World responds to the sin of his people by saying, “I’m going to allure them with my mercy, with my grace, with my love for them, I’m going to bring them back to myself and speak tenderly to them.”? This is the gospel. This is the story of every follower of Jesus. We have rebelled against God. We have run after other gods. And we have forgotten the one true God. We’re even prone to do that in our lives today.
Hosea 2:14 reveals God’s loving heart for his people.
And yet, God, the one true holy God, Judge of All, chooses to allure us. The word it’s like a teenage boy trying to lure a teenage girl he’s got a crush on. He wants to show her how much he cares for her. This is God talking like that for you and for me, for all who turn from other gods and trust in him. Who turn from our sin.
And so we pray, God, help us to faithfully walk with you today, oh Lord, by your love and your grace for us, we praise you, oh God, we deserve your eternal, holy judgment. And we praise you for paying the price for our sins, for alluring us through sending your son, Jesus, to die on the cross for us. All glory be to your name, for your grace, your mercy that we do not deserve. Thank you for how you have allured us to you for all the ways you’ve drawn us to yourself and back to yourself over and over and over again with your grace and your love and your mercy.
And so we pray, oh God, today, help us to walk faithfully with you, abiding in your alluring love for us, listening to your word as you speak tenderly to us through it by your Spirit. God, we praise you for your love for us. And God, we pray that you’d help us to reflect this love, help us to show just counter-cultural love, unexpected love. Just as you’ve shown that to us. God, help us to show that to people around us today.
Prayer for the Suafa Bedouin People
And God, we pray you’d help us to spread this love around the world. We pray specifically today for the Suafa Bedouin people of Algeria, for this nomadic people group. God, please, 138,000 of them who need to be allured by your love. And Jesus, please God, may it be so we pray. Allure the Suafa Bedouin people to yourself and use our lives and your church to be a picture of your alluring love for all the peoples of the world, including the Suafa Bedouin of Algeria.
We pray all of this in light of your astounding, breathtaking, awe-inducing, alluring love for each of us. And God, even in that, help us all day today just to abide in your alluring love to be allured by your mercy, to walk with you faithfully today in light of your faithful, alluring, abiding love for us. In Jesus’ name, we pray all this according to your Word, which we love in Hosea 2:13–14. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
