Therefore, I will Allure Her
Part of my daily morning routine includes spending quiet time with the Lord. Over the last few weeks, I've been using a Book of Common Prayer app as the start of my quiet time because I've developed quite the interest in Anglicanism and liturgical worship. On Wednesday morning, I began my day going through the morning liturgy in the app. Part of the liturgy includes going through the entirety of the Bible over the course of a year (or two, I'm not quite sure, to be honest).
On Tuesday morning, I skipped my morning liturgy, so on Wednesday, the reading included the second half of Hosea 2. To understand the context, I decided to read all of chapter 2 since it was only 23 verses. I am so glad I did. It was honestly so edifying, and I want to share with you what God showed me in His Word.
To understand what is going on in this passage, we first must understand the context of Hosea. I love the way that whoever wrote this Wikipedia article (no, I normally don't trust Wikipedia as a main source) describes it. Check it out:
So we see that Hosea was a prophet during a time in Israel's history when they were turning away from God to idol worship. In order to demonstrate His pain in a tangible way, God commanded Hosea to marry an adulteress, so that Hosea might understand God's perspective better. In the first half of chapter 2, God declares that He will punish Israel if they do not repent of their idol worship and turn back to Him. The descriptive imagery tells us that God was prepared to bring destruction upon the people of Israel.
Just when I thought, "This is it. They've done it this time. Could God possibly continue to have mercy on them?" I read verse 14.
"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her."
What?! WHAT?! Following His poetic description of how Israel deserves destruction, God continues saying that He will allure Israel and speak tenderly to them. He wouldn't just show them mercy. He would show them deep affection, like that of a husband towards his wife. This baffles me. In the middle of our broken, sinful mess, when we turn away from and reject our God, He responds with such miraculous love.
By no means am I saying that we ought to continue in our sin, nor am I saying that we should so blatantly reject our God. As we see in the first half of Hosea 2, God has no tolerance for sin. He abhors it. We must turn away from our sin, not because God is only merciful when we do so, but because that is the role of the Bride of Christ. We must turn away from all our old loves (sin) and cling to our "husband" (Christ Jesus, our Lord). I am, however, saying that God is so rich in mercy that He is more patient toward us than we may ever understand.
Blessing
The blessing below is found at the end of my daily morning liturgy in my Book of Common Prayer app. Speaking these words every morning is nourishing to my soul. May you also be blessed in the coming week ahead.
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you:
wherever he may send you;
may He guide you through the wilderness:
protect you through the storm;
may He bring you home rejoicing:
at the wonders He has shown you;
may he bring you home rejoicing:
once again into our doors.