Hosea 3. God tells Hosea to go and love a woman (his wife, in other translations) who is an adulteress, for that is how God loves the people of Israel even though they turn to other gods "and love cakes of raisins." So Hosea goes and buys the adulteress back from her paramour and says to her "You must dwell as mine for many days; you shall not play the harlot, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you." This is also how the children of Israel will dwell for many years without a king or prince; without sacrifice; without an ephod (a priestly garment) or teraphim (an idol). When they have dwelt this way for years, they will return and seek the Lord their God and they shall come to fear the Lord and his goodness.

This is beautiful, merciful love. This is what gets people to change. I have been the "harlot," the "adulteress," the sinner who was purchased by Christ's blood and kept safely for many years until I turned back to the Lord and sought him. As soon as I did this he answered me in abundance, and he continues to. I have come to be overwhelmed with love and gratitude toward the Lord and his goodness to me.

I imagine everyone goes through this to a greater or lesser extent. (Or maybe I am a greater sinner than everyone else?!:) I think we all have to turn to him from our idols and our raisin cakes (the reference to which I get such a kick out of! Did Hosea's wife really love raisin cakes or something? Were they such a delicacy or status symbol that the Jews turned from God for them?, but I digress...) 

At some point, something in our lives takes us from those idols, as Hosea takes this woman from her lover. We find ourselves in a situation where we cannot have the things that we are clinging to and we must dwell without them for some time. This feels painful and is hard, but it is really a cleansing - God is redeeming us, who he purchased with his blood. He is giving us the time and space to realize where we went wrong and that the things we were pursuing were causing us great harm. Then, when we realize that, we turn to him, and we, like Israel, come to appreciate him and his goodness.

Speaking for myself, once I had this revelation, I felt so stupid. What was I doing? Why would I choose raisin cakes over him?