LOVE THAT RESTORES SINNERS

Passage: Hosea 3:1~5  

Key verse: 1b

1. Though she is an adulteress (1-3)

God commanded Hosea to do something very difficult. His wife had left him and sought other lovers and had become a slave. God told Hosea to buy her back from slavery, take her into his home, and love her again. This was a concrete expression of God's forgiving, redeeming love for Israel and for all of us sinners. We can learn such love through practicing forgiveness and restoration in our own lives.

2. They will seek the Lord and his king (4-5)

Hosea's estrangement from his wife, followed by their reconciliation, mirrored the salvation history of Israel. God made Israel suffer many years without a king and without the temple worship, so that they might earnestly seek God with their hearts. Then they would be ready to humbly receive God's outpoured blessings; they would be ready to receive their true Lord and King, Jesus the Messiah.



Prayer: Father, thank you for the trials in my life that have made me return to you. Help me to practice your amazing restorative love.

One Word: God's love redeems lost sinners