I’m devoting the next few weeks to working on a project that’s going to demand most of my mental energy. So apart from the usual Mon-Fri Checkout which will continue, I won’t be writing an additional daily article. Instead, I’m going to post a series of daily devotionals on Hosea that I wrote a few years ago.


“I will allure her” (Hosea 2:14).

Our “therefores” are so different from God’s “therefores.” In the previous verse, Israel’s sins are listed and then climaxed with “she went after her lovers, and forgot me, says the Lord.” After such a litany of iniquity, we expect the Lord to say, “Therefore I will forget you.” That’s what we would say in a similar situation. However, God’s “therefores” are different from our “therefores.” Instead of using the greatness of Israel’s sins to demonstrate the greatness of His justice, He uses them to display the greatness of His mercy. “Where sin abounded, there did grace much more abound” (Rom. 5:20). So, in response to “she forgat me,” the Lord says, “Therefore, behold, I will allure her.”

The Hebrew word behind “allure” is used in Exodus 22:16 to describe a man’s overt and obvious romantic wooing of a young lady. In Judges 14:15, the same word describes a woman’s subtle and secret attempts to entice a man to divulge confidential information. So the process of “alluring” may be either overt or covert.

The Lord allures in both senses of the word. Sometimes He will woo His people obviously and openly. He will set His charms before the believer and challenge the world to outbid Him. The believer clearly sees what God is doing, how God is powerfully and irresistibly attracting the soul, and he consciously responds to His offers of grace. Or, the Lord may work more secretly in the heart, slowly but surely turning the soul back to Him so that the believer hardly notices the work of God until it is done, when she responds with surprise and wonder that the Lord has healed her backsliding and loved her freely.

O straying sheep, forget human “therefores,” take this divine “therefore” to God, and plead this sublime heavenly logic as you seek to return to His warm embrace. Take the greatness of your sins to God and plead the greatness of your sins as a powerful argument for His mercy. “For your name’s sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity; for it is great” (Ps. 25:11).

And, if you are conscious of the Lord’s alluring, then believe His romantic overtures are sincere and be happily seduced by His love. Or, perhaps you should examine your heart to see if God is wooing you more subtly. Let us trace all to this great and all-conquering “I will allure her.”