Hosea 2:23 Inductive Bible Study

Hosea 2:23 says, “Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; Then I will say to those who were not my people, 'You are My people!' And they shall say, 'You are my God!'”

So in continuing with my study in Hosea, I found this verse. This is beautiful because, as I mentioned in my last IBS post, God told Hosea to name two of his children Lo-Ruhamah (not having obtained mercy) and Lo-Ammi (not my people). This verse is saying that He will basically renew them back to how they were supposed to be. The whole beginning of the book of Hosea is about God's judgment towards Israel and the consequences that they are going to receive for their disobedience. But starting at 2:14, we see that God's judgment won't last forever. 2:14 says,”I will allure her(Israel), will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her.” How beautiful this picture is! God's people have been disobedient, rejected Him, and run after other gods too many times to count, yet He still loves them. He is judging them and giving them consequences, but that will end eventually. The punishment has a purpose. He wants to remind them that He is the one who has always provided for them and taken care of them and that without Him, they have nothing. But He wants to allure them; to captivate them and draw them back to Himself. In verse 16, the Lord talks about how, when that day comes, His people will no longer call Him Master but Husband. The word Baal(the name of one of their false gods) can mean Master. So this would help them to disassociate the one true God with the false gods that they are used to worshiping.  He says that He will betroth them to Him forever, in righteousness, justice, lovingkindness, faithfulness and mercy. These are the people that left God after all He did for them. The ones who blatantly pursued other gods. And He is saying that they will be committed to each other forever.

This just blows me away. And then I realize that this is exactly what He has done for us! We are His and we have strayed from Him and yet He is bringing us back. He is alluring me to Himself. He has provided for me and I have blatantly turned away from Him. Yet, knowing the choices that I would make beforehand, He still loves me enough to sacrifice Himself for my sin and change my name. My name was Fallen and now it's Forgiven. I was Captive but now I am Free. He does not hold against me the sins of my past. They are gone and forgotten. “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” (Psalm 103:12) He has given me mercy and grace when I least deserved it. The Creator of the universe has called me His. I can't even explain how blessed I feel by knowing this.

Application:

Today, I am going to memorize this verse and post it on my wall so that I can remember who and Whose I am.