EXCUSE ME, I’M IN LOVE
EXCUSE ME, I’M IN LOVE
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfort to her. I will give her her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; She shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. ‘And it shall be, in that day,’ says the Lord, ‘That you will call Me “My Husband,” and no longer call Me “My Master,”… I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord.’ — Hosea 2:14–20
Love that costs nothing changes nothing. — PG
It is the weekend after Valentine’s Day, which means love has been reduced to flowers, emojis, and dinner reservations. We say we love tacos, love our team, love a new series, love the weather. We have flattened one of the most powerful words in Scripture into a preference. The Bible refuses to let love be that shallow.
John Chapter 4 tells us that God is love. Not that He occasionally feels loving, but that love is His identity. You can offer affection without God. You can offer attraction without God. You can even offer loyalty without God. But covenant love originates in Him and returns to Him.
Hosea’s story makes that painfully clear. God commands a prophet to marry a woman whose life is marked by unfaithfulness. It sounds offensive until you realize the point. Hosea’s marriage becomes a living illustration of God’s covenant with His people. A pure man enters covenant with someone broken, not because he approves of her lifestyle, but because he intends to redeem her future.
She drifts. She wanders. She chases what feels exciting and mistakes attention for affection. The new seems thrilling. The old feels ordinary. What promised freedom becomes bondage again. If we are honest, most of us know that pattern too well. We leave what is steady for what is shiny, only to discover there is sewage under greener grass.
And yet God says, I will allure her. I will bring her into the wilderness and speak comfort to her. He does not abandon her to her consequences. He draws her out of them. Love does not mean acceptance of destruction. Love means intervention. Love means pursuit. Love means paying the price so someone does not have to live enslaved to what once defined them.
God promises to turn the Valley of Achor, the valley of trouble, into a door of hope. The place of failure becomes the place of singing. Only covenant love can do that. Job writes that there is hope for a tree even when it is cut down. At the scent of water it will bud again. Some family trees have deep cuts. Divorce, betrayal, addiction, abuse. But God’s love does not declare the tree dead because of damage. It declares new growth because of covenant.
In Hosea 2, the language changes. No longer Master, but Husband. The relationship shifts from ownership to intimacy. God does not want fearful compliance. He desires covenant affection. Romans tells us that God demonstrated His love while we were still sinners. He did not wait for us to get presentable. He stepped into our mess and made a way back.
Tim Keller wrote, “To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is what we need more than anything.”
That is what Hosea reveals. Fully known. Fully loved. Fully pursued. God’s love does not make us want to sin more. It makes us want to serve more. When you realize He has betrothed you in righteousness, justice, lovingkindness, mercy, and faithfulness, obedience stops feeling like obligation and starts feeling like devotion.
Jeremiah records the Lord saying, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. There is nothing casual about that love. It outlasts your past. It survives your shame. It rebuilds what you broke. It restores purity not by pretending sin never happened, but by redeeming the story.
When you understand that His love is better than life, as the Psalmist declared, worship becomes natural. You live differently. You forgive faster. You trust deeper. You worship louder. Not because you are trying to earn love, but because you have been overwhelmed by it.
Excuse me, I’m in love. Not with a feeling. Not with a moment. Not with an atmosphere. With a covenant God who refuses to let me define myself by my worst decisions.
Live This Out Loud
Turn On: “How He Loves/Jealous” by Upperroom and proceed through the rest of this blog.
Examine where you have mistaken tolerance or emotional affection for true covenant love and invite God to redefine it.
Allow God to draw you away from environments that are slowly pulling you back into old patterns.
Speak gratitude daily for His relentless love so that devotion replaces routine in your walk with Him.
My Prayer
Holy Spirit, I come to You in the name of Jesus, thanking You for loving me with an everlasting love that does not change with my moods or mistakes. Draw me away from every false affection and root me deeply in covenant devotion to You. Heal what has been broken in my heart and in my family, and let Your love rebuild what sin tried to destroy. Teach me to live as one who is fully known and fully loved. Amen.
The Lord your God will make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you as He has promised you. — Deuteronomy 1:11
Marked By His Presence,
-PG
