God's Love Changes Us
In that day, declares the Lord, this is what will take place: You will call me “my husband.” You will no longer call me “my master.” (Hosea 2:16)
God used Hosea to show the people of Israel what their relationship with God was like. God told Hosea to marry Gomer, a prostitute. Hosea and Gomer had a daughter and a son together. God told Hosea to name his daughter Lo Ruhammah, which means “no compassion” and the son was to be named Lo Ammi: Not my people.
Even though Hosea had married Gomer and provided for her, she remained unfaithful to him. She continued in her ways of prostitution. God told Hosea that this was the way his people, Israel, were. Even though God had set them apart, and provided for them, they prostituted themselves to idols and turned away from God. But God would not reject them completely. Just as Hosea buys Gomer back and tells her to be faithful to him, so God says he will bring back the people of Isreal and they will be faithful to him.
God has enacted this change in us as well. When we were born, we were dead in our sins. If left on our own, we would have prostituted ourselves to idols and had no regard for God. But God has caused a change in us. He has made us into his faithful people, the church. He calls us his people and he has compassion on us. And because of that, we live to serve our God. Amen.
The song for today is “You Love Me Anyway” by Sidewalk Prophets