God's mercy

Hosea 2
14“Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. 15There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor[a] a door of hope. There she will respond[b] as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. 16“In that day,” declares the Lord, “you will call me ‘my husband’; you will no longer call me ‘my master.[c] ’ 17I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked. 18In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds in the sky and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety. 19I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in[d] righteousness and justice, in[e] love and compassion. 20I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord. 21“In that day I will respond,” declares the Lord— “I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth; 22and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and the olive oil, and they will respond to Jezreel.[f] 23I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.[g] ’ I will say to those called ‘Not my people,[h] ’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’ ”

In Hosea 2, we see God forgiving Israel for going after false gods (fake gods, money, sex, fame, power, self satisfaction, greed). After everything God has done for them by freeing them from their captivity in Egypt, parting the waters for them to cross over, making water from a rock, defeating their enemies, always going ahead of them to protect them...after all this, the Israelites still wandered from God. 

Yet God says in Hosea 2, He will forgive them. He does allow them to wallow in their sin first, to realize what they are missing by not staying in God's grace and mercy. He then forgives them unconditionally, and grants them mercy...and the cycle starts all over again! In fact, it continues today. Jesus had to die on the cross to forgive our sins, because we keep sinning just like the Israelites! We beg for forgiveness, are given it freely, then mess up all over again, ask for forgiveness, receive it, and start all over again.

We are not any different from those pathetic Israelites that God loved so much that He forgave them over and over again. Not only did He forgive them, but He promised them a Messiah! 

I regularly make the same mistakes over and over and over! I think I have learned from them, and I think I will do better. Then, I make a similar mistake or lapse in judgment. Call it what you want! 

I always have something to say about everything, and many times I say it before I think it through! Then I am in the same situation I was in before regretting my words, paying for my mistake as people are now mad at me. I deserve that. I made the mistake. Yet, even if these people hold on to their anger over what I said after I ask then for forgiveness, God tells me I am forgiven if I ask Him for forgiveness! GOD FORGIVES ME! Everything is right with this crazy mixed up world when I fully realize that I am forgiven of my mistakes! 

My Lord and Savior, thank you for always forgiving, always pursuing, always setting out a plan to bring me back! In Jesus name I pray. Amen.