You Are My People
“I
will plant her for Myself in the land; I will show My love to the one I called
‘Not My loved one.’ I will say to those
called, ‘Not My people, you are My people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.
“ Hosea 2:23
The prophet Hosea was given a daunting
task by the Lord – marry an adulterous woman and have children who are not
faithful. Gee, that make me pause the
next time the Lord prompts me to speak an encouraging word to a stranger! Hosea obeys God’s instruction and in so
doing, brings a message to Israel. God’s
very own chosen people had engaged in adulteress behavior and been unfaithful
to God. In fact, chapter one of Hosea
gives us the names of Hosea’s children: Lo-Ruhamah (not loved) and Lo-Ammi (not
my people).
After a period of punishment for
disobedience, God will allure Israel back to Himself. The last half of chapter two in Hosea focuses
on God’s amazing capacity for tenderness, mercy and forgiveness. He will take Israel back, just like Hosea
takes back his wife after she has been unfaithful to him. Hosea buys her back and ultimately, God buys
Israel back through Jesus. He does so in
order to work through Israel to offer salvation to all who call upon the name
of the Lord.
God promises to plant His chosen people
in the land. God promises to show His
love to those who rejected Him. God
promises to reclaim His people and He predicts the people will reclaim their
God.
Does this strike a familiar chord
within us? For many of us, we rebelled
against God and all things authoritative.
We went our own way – and God let us.
When we finally reached the end of ourselves and turned to Him (for the
first, second or third time), He was there – unchangeable and unflappable by
what we did. It shifted to now focus on
what we would do. He gathered us in His
warm embrace. We got a new name: God’s
people. We were loved by God. In turn, we laid claim to God.
Both Paul and Peter reference this great
Old Testament truth that became a reality in Jesus the King – the King not just
for Israel, but King of the entire creation.
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