Relentless Love

By Pastor Brandon

“I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. (vs20) I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.” Hosea 2:19-20. (Emphasis added)

Betroth:
To promise "by one's truth." Men and women were betrothed when they were engaged to be married. This usually took place a year or more before marriage. From the time of betrothal the woman was regarded as the lawful wife of the man to whom she was betrothed.

Every married couple remembers their wedding day. The day you committed for a lifetime to love, honor and cherish your spouse until death do you part. On my wedding day many things stood out; the joke played by one of my groomsmen. (He wrote “Help me” on the bottom of my shoe so when I kneeled down on the prayer bench the whole crowd saw it.) I remember having to take so many pictures after the wedding that half of the wedding guests were gone by the time we were done and I remember the limo driver got lost and was extremely late picking us up. But my most vivid memory was when my wife (smoking hot) walked down the aisle and I remember thinking how beautiful she looked and how blessed I was to marry her. (Ladies all say it together, ahh…)

I was committing to her and she was committing to me. No matter what we go through and no matter how good or bad things get, we will not go back on that commitment.

The book of Hosea is about God’s relentless love and His commitment (marriage) toward his people. God had shown His love to the Israelites over and over yet every time they became unfaithful to Him. God uses Hosea to make a point about His love toward His people by having him marry an unfaithful wife. (Read Hosea 1) Hosea falls in love with Gomer (a prostitute) and has children with her. Yet Gomer, in spite of Hosea’s love is unfaithful to the vows and the commitment she had made. Hosea remains faithful to Gomer and is committed to the vow he took. God says in verse 19 that He will “BETROTH” you to me forever… This verse means that God will remain faithful and his love will never go away no matter how unfaithful we are. In one word God once again redefines how he loves his people - he betroths them. He commits himself to them. He pledges to them everything part of his being. He says to them, "Everything that I am, is all for you." Every good part of me, it’s all yours. God says "I commit myself to you."
God commits himself to us, his commitment is unchanging, it lasts forever.

His commitment is righteous and just, it goes to the very core of his character, it is through and through and binding upon God in every way. It is a commitment that is characterized by steadfastness and loyalty; it is focused on us, sharing in our struggles to the point that he would become one of us. God commits himself to us with his relentless love and faithfulness, with him there is no turning. God is for us, who can be against us?

Read Hosea 2:1-23.