To be honest, I think I am still processing Justin’s message from the book of Hosea. I love this book of the Bible. I studied it in college with a group of girls from RUF and it came at a time in my life where I desperately needed connection and to be reminded of God’s unwavering love for me. And that reminder threaded throughout the sermon is what refreshed my heart once again.

The book of Hosea mirrors God’s relationship with Israel. Lest we forget as we shake our heads at Israel’s foolishness that this book reveals our personal relationship with the Lord. That is piercing. We are reminded that we lack the understanding of how our sin affects our God. Justin pointed out that when we sin we are “doing the same thing with our soul that an addict does with their body”. Our sin is ugly, devastating, and has eternal consequences. Throughout Hosea God pronounces his judgment on Israel for their waywardness. Similarly, the prophet Hosea feels the pain of having an unfaithful wife. But, how beautiful is it when the prophet goes and purchases his wife back again after she is unfaithful? Hosea knows all of her sin and yet, he still loves her. Does this stir in you the same type of longing that it does in me? Matthew Henry in his commentary says, “Their badness had not put an end to God’s goodness. Such is my love to the children of Israel; it is love to the loveless, to the unlovely, to those that have a thousand times forfeited it”.

I want that type of love and faithfulness to sink into your heart. If we can be struck by the beauty of Hosea’s love for Gomer, how much more should we rejoice in God’s unconditional love for us! Only when we understand the depth of our depravity can we then fully appreciate how God loves us. In this season of advent we are reminded of what God has done for us. He sent us His son in the most humble of ways. Christ was born to die for us. Because of what Christ did, God has called us “His People”. Wow. Listen to these promises, “And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord…And I will have mercy on No mercy, and I will say to not my people, ‘You are my People’; and you shall say, ‘You are God’ (2:19-20,23). We are His. God is faithful to His people, even when we are unfaithful.

I hope as you prepare for Christmas this week, God reminds you of his faithful love to you. Like a bridegroom preparing for His wedding, God is preparing our hearts for spending forever in his presence. We do not deserve such a gift. In 1 Peter 2:9-10 we are reminded that “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy”. As we ponder the baby lying in the manger, let us rejoice that because of him we are the Lord’s people.

~ Bronwyn Siebert