Then God ordered me, “Start all over: Love your wife again, your wife who’s in bed with her latest boyfriend, your cheating wife. Love her the way I, God, love the Israelite people, even as they flirt and party with every god that takes their fancy.” I did it. I paid good money to get her back. It cost me the price of a slave. Then I told her, “From now on you’re living with me. No more whoring, no more sleeping around. You’re living with me and I’m living with you.” Hosea 3:1-3 The Message

I love this portion of Scripture. Actually I love the whole book of Hosea, but especially these three verses in the context of the first three chapters. If you don't really know the history I would encourage you to look it up fully sometime because it is so good, but here is just a little rundown. Hosea, the prophet of God, was told by God to go and take a whore to be his wife; so he did, and then he was told to name his children certain things all to be examples to the Israelite people of how God was looking at them at this certain point in history. As was common in the Prophetic book it was full of God's judgment and discipline followed by His everlasting mercy, and this book is no different. Verses 1-3 of chapter 3 are a portion of God's mercy and love toward His straying and adulterous people. I don't know why I like it so much. Maybe it's because it's so graphic and it makes sense in my head because the culture we are in is so full of adultery and I know the adultery of my own heart towards God.

I think that my favorite part is where Hosea goes out and does what God told him to do and he has to do it by paying a price. He doesn't just go out and find her, it costs him something. It's such a clear picture of God loving His people. It cost Hosea the price of a slave to get his adulterous wife back, and it cost God the price of His Son to get His adulterous people back.

The words Hosea says to His wife are basically the same words, the same message anyway, that God gives to us, which is something like this, "You are mine now. Stop living in your sinful ways. I will be your God and you will be my people." It makes me think of the verse that says, "...You were bought with a price. So glorify God with your body." I Cor. 6:20 ESV

Isn't our God good?