Inspiration

Then the LORD said to me, “Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the LORD still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them.” 

In the Scripture, the wife of the prophet Hosea abandoned him and their children and was living as a prostitute with many men. Despite her unfaithfulness and the pain and humiliation she’d caused, Hosea still loved her. Finally, her circumstances got so bad that she was about to be sold as a slave when God spoke today’s Scripture to him. He went and found her beaten down, dirty, clothes torn, and he stooped down and bought her back for fifteen shekels. 

Hosea is a picture of God. His wife represents you and me. We’ve all turned our back on Him and gone our own way, but God who is rich in mercy didn’t turn His back on us. He stooped down to the messy places, to where we failed, to where we should have been finished, and bought us back—not with fifteen shekels, but with the life of His Son. Now you have to do your part and receive His mercy, receive His forgiveness, and quit living guilty. Your past is not dictating your future. Live redeemed. Live restored. 

Father, thank You for being rich in mercy and never giving up on me when I’ve gone my own way and failed. Thank You that Jesus gave His life that I might belong to You. I declare that I have been bought by the blood of the Lamb of God and that I’m living redeemed. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.