Read | Hosea 3
Then the LORD said to me, “Go again; show love to a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, just as the LORD loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”
So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and nine bushels of barley. I said to her, “You are to live with me many days. You must not be promiscuous or belong to any man, and I will act the same way toward you.”
For the Israelites must live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, and without ephod or household idols. Afterward, the people of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come with awe to the LORD and to his goodness in the last days.
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Where is God calling you to take the difficult action of extending costly grace and forgiveness to someone who has wronged you?
What specific, physical actions do you need to take today to cut off access to the temptations or idols you repeatedly run to?
Focus
Reflect on your actions this week:
Hosea had to take the physical, costly action of buying back his wife. Extending grace often costs us our pride or our “right” to remain angry. Today, choose to take one tangible action of unmerited grace toward someone who frustrates you or has wronged you. This could mean praying a sincere blessing over them, sending an encouraging message, or simply deciding to drop a grudge you’ve been carrying, confessing your own pride and resistance to forgiving as you have been forgiven.
Pray
Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will. All I have and call my own. You have given all to me. To you, Lord, I return it. Everything is yours; do with it what you will. Give me only your love and your grace, that is enough for me.
—St. Ignatius of Loyola, The Spiritual Exercises
Going Deeper
If you are also following the BibleProject’s One Story That Leads to Jesus reading plan, complete today’s reading.
