The plan was to get up early to take time to quietly read my Bible. It was a brilliant plan, really. Except one tiny detail. . . I decided to do this as summer was coming to an end. Which meant that my brilliant plan to get up early and enjoy the nice warm sunrise on the porch has been very cold. My plan had good intentions with a rather large flaw.
Today, I read Hosea 1. If you ask me, it was a flawed plan with good intentions. God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute. God intentionally says, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” Hoseas 1:2 (NIV 2016)
God is going to use Hosea’s marriage to this promiscuous wife to show the wayward people of Israel how similar they are to a Gomer. Their children will also be called “not loved” or “not my people.” But God…”In the place where it was said to them. ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’ Hosea 1: 10b (NIV 2016)
Hallelujah, God keeps his promise. Though we may suffer for the consequences of our sin, God’s love still prevails. God does not forget us. He keeps offering us his love through Jesus Christ, his only son. Do you feel flawed? Do you feel unworthy? Good. Because you are and God loves you anyways and wants you to grow to be more like him as you walk with the Lord and draw near to him.
