Winning Them Back

Can you remember back to your dating days? I sure you can, as a man I can remembering doing many things to win the heart of my (now) wife. Hosea is describing for us some of the things that he is doing to win back is wife. We can see that he has even provided for her needs without her knowledge. Despite her lack of response, he continues to pursue her out of obedience to God.

Hos 2:8-23
8 "For she does not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the new wine and the oil,
And lavished on her silver and gold,
Which they used for Baal.
9 "Therefore, I will take back My grain at harvest time
And My new wine in its season.
I will also take away My wool and My flax
Given to cover her nakedness.
10 "And then I will uncover her lewdness
In the sight of her lovers,
And no one will rescue her out of My hand.
11 "I will also put an end to all her gaiety,
Her feasts, her new moons, her sabbaths
And all her festal assemblies.
12 "I will destroy her vines and fig trees,
Of which she said, 'These are my wages
Which my lovers have given me.'
And I will make them a forest,
And the beasts of the field will devour them.
13 "I will punish her for the days of the Baals
When she used to offer sacrifices to them
And adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry,
And follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me," declares the Lord.
14 "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, Bring her into the wilderness And speak kindly to her. 15 "Then I will give her her vineyards from there, And the valley of Achor as a door of hope. And she will sing there as in the days of her youth, As in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. 16 "It will come about in that day," declares the Lord,"That you will call Me Ishi And will no longer call Me Baali. 17 "For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, So that they will be mentioned by their names no more. 18 "In that day I will also make a covenant for them With the beasts of the field, The birds of the sky And the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword and war from the land, And will make them lie down in safety. 19 "I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, In loving kindness and in compassion, 20 And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the Lord. 21 "It will come about in that day that I will respond," declares the Lord."I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth, 22 And the earth will respond to the grain, to the new wine and to the oil, And they will respond to Jezreel. 23 "I will sow her for Myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion, And I will say to those who were not My people,'You are My people!'And they will say, 'You are my God!'" NASU

We see that God is providing HOPE. In the valley of Achor were set stone to remind the children of Israel of the day God turned from wrath. God will also betroth us forever. But where and when to we see this for us today.

At the cross. The cross of Christ has provided a door of HOPE! Jesus says in John 14:6 "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me. NASU
He is describing that door of Hope! And one entering that door (as a child of God) it will be for eternity. John 6:39-40 "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. 40 "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." NASU

Are you struggling with you life, even though you have trusted Christ. Today we see that God is still pursuing you. He does not toss people away... and you are one of those people. Why not allow his love to come into your heart again. Be refreshed, respond like when you first met Jesus for of exuberant joy.

Explore for yourself

1. What happens to the vineyards and fig orchards?
2. What is the third "therefore" in v 14? What does God do now?
3. Look at the Joshua 7:26 what is the Valley of Achor? How will it change?
4. What changes with Gomer? What is Hosea called? Rather than what?
5. What will be established?
6. What five things are part of the betrothal? Why are these important?
7. How does the earth respond?
8. What will change with the people?
9. How do this relate to us today? What lessons can we learn and apply?
10. Why are these thoughts so hard to handle?