When love is present, people are remembered. When love is absent, people are forgotten. It is this lack of love that God is concerned about. He makes it a complaint against his people.
God is saying that he married his people; he was like a husband to them. But these people in spite of all the good he had shown them; had just turned their backs on him and went after other lovers—lifeless gods and idols. Here we see the bleeding heart of God as he makes this complaint, “but me she forgot (Hosea 2:13).”
Think about your relationship with God for a moment. Did it not glow with the joy of a love relationship in all its purity, goodness and affection in the early days? What has happened to it right now? Have you forsaken your first love (Revelation 2:4)? If so it is time to repent and return to your God.
Has prosperity turned you away from your God (Deuteronomy 8:11—14)? Have you turned your heart away from him because of ingratitude (Luke 17:17, 18)? The reasons could be many. But there is a lesson you should never forget.
A lesson that God taught through the life of Hosea the prophet whom God commanded to love his unfaithful wife. God told him to show love to his wife again though she was an adulteress. He was told, “Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods . . . (Hosea 3:1b).
Here you find hope. God is willing to forgive your sins and all the rebellion you showed as you forgot him and went your own way. He is like a lover ready to take you back. Perhaps you have realized the great blackness of the adultery you have done in forsaking your lover; God himself.
That realization should not turn you away from God’s outstretched arms; but drive you towards them which are held out open to receive you. What is he saying to you right now is, “Come to me. Come home!”
He has promised to speak tenderly to you and make the Valley of Trouble a door of hope. Believe it and come back to your God and eternal lover right now. Do not delay. He is waiting; just for you. Come back, come home!