Devotions based on Week 1 of The Prophets: Hosea (WATCH HERE)
Hosea 1:2-3 “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.”
How would you have responded to this call from the Lord? How would your family have responded when you told them you were going to marry an adulterous woman (with no guarantees that she had left her life of promiscuity!).
Yet this is what the Lord called Hosea to do.
Gomer was a living picture of Israel’s spiritual adultery, Israel’s unfaithfulness. It wasn’t about sexual promiscuity, but it was about spiritual adultery. The people of Israel had “divorced” the Lord for idols. They had become comfortable with the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth. Yet they still claimed a loose allegiance to the Lord.
The Lord would not settle for Israel’s unfaithfulness. So he sent Hosea with the living illustration of God’s faithfulness in spite of his people’s unfaithfulness.
It would be easy to assume we’re better than Gomer, but spiritual idolatry can be subtle. We may not have a statue of Buddha, Baal, or another foreign God, but our hearts could be tempted to trust in wealth, success, or our own intellect over God. These idols in our hearts are just as vile as setting up golden calves and calling them “God” in the land of Israel.
The Lord would not let his people continue in their spiritual adultery.
He doesn’t discard us. He doesn’t walk away. Instead, He pursues us—again and again. Just as Hosea continues to pursue Gomer, God refuses to let go of His people. “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8)
God didn’t wait for us to clean up our act. He came to us in our mess. Jesus is the greater Hosea—the One who doesn’t just speak God’s love but embodies it. He came to redeem a faithless world, not with silver, but with His own blood.
This is the good news: You are not loved because you are faithful. You are loved because the Lord’s heart is faithful. His love is steadfast, undeserved, and unrelenting.
He preserved the message of Hosea to bring to us today a vivid picture of our unfaithfulness and to show us great contrast with his faithfulness. God’s faithfulness never wavers. “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” – 2 Timothy 2:13
Apply: Where in your life are you placing trust outside of God? Identify those areas, confess them, and receive God’s forgiveness. His grace reaches even the Gomers of this world.
Prayer: Father, thank You for loving me even when I’ve been unfaithful. Help me see the idols I’ve clung to and turn back to You with a whole heart. Thank You for never giving up on me. Amen.