Day 26—Thursday, April 3, 2025

Hosea 2:14-15

Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There will respond as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

When I read this passage, it fills me with gratitude and awe. It confirms for me that we have a God of action and such love for us that he constantly demonstrates, through grace and forgiveness. The 13 verses prior to these list all the ways God’s people have been wicked, but rather than wrath following his “Therefore”, it is a statement that he is going to “allure” us. Not just get our attention, but truly lead us to himself, get us to turn and move toward him. The setting is thought out with care; his words will be tender to reveal how cherished we are to him, and he will speak them once we are moved away from our secular world full of distractions and sinful things that separate us from him.

God wants our attention. He knows that we are prone to wander off and lose our way, but despite our flaws and sinful nature, he seeks us out and creates that “door of hope” that is always open to us. May we have the wisdom to walk through it again and again.

Loving God,

Thank you for conveying how very loved and cherished we are by choosing to allure and speak tenderly to us. Thank you for helping us to see that we need to return to the wilderness, apart from the busy, distracting nature of this modern world, and hear your voice speak love and truth into our lives so that we may live as you intended. Your grace and mercy are never ending, no matter how far we stray. What an incredible truth.

Amen

-Anne Travers