Restoring the broken Relationship

 Read Hosea 3.

God's great power is seen in what many would think to be impossible.  

"Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh.  Is anything too hard for me?" (Jeremiah 32:27)

Not only was Gomer unfaithful to Hosea, it appears that she sold herself into a kind of sexual slavery.  Her worship of false gods, including a fertility cult, drove her deeper and deeper to the point of being trapped and unable to help herself.  God ordered Hosea to go and buy his wife out of that predicament and bring her home.  The total price of money and grain would have been equal to thirty shekels of silver; the price of a slave according to Exodus 21:32. This required an act of supreme love and commitment to his wife.

What took place in Hosea's home became the basis of the prophet's message.  Verse one states: "...even as the LORD loves the children of Israel."

After all the LORD had done for Israel, they rejected Him and chased after the false gods of the surrounding cultures until they reached a point of enslavement to sin.  The northern tribes, under the leadership of Jeroboam, had rejected the house of David as their king to form their own kingdom.  Not one of the nineteen kings in the north was a godly man.

God's covenant with Abraham and his descendants was and is unconditional.  Though the Jews rejected Him and His leadership over them, God continues to be committed to them.  The prophecy here is that there is coming a day, "in the latter days", when the children of Israel will return, seek God, and positively respond to a Davidic rule again.  There has not been such a person over the nation since it divided around 931 B.C.

Here are four required elements Hosea used with Gomer.  God will use these four with Israel.  Jesus has used them with us.  And we can use them to heal our broken relationships.
1. Return. (v.1)
"Go again..."  This requires a willingness on the part of the offended to take action to heal the broken relationship.

2. Redeem. (v.2)
"I bought..."  This requires a willingness and ability to pay the necessary price.

3. Recommit. (vv.3-4)
"You must dwell as mine for many days."  This requires a willingness to stay for the long haul.

4. Restore. (v.5)
"...they shall come in fear to the LORD and to his goodness..."  This requires a plan to fulfill all promises.