“Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them ‘You are not my people,’ it shall be said to them, ‘Children of the living God.'”

Hosea 1:10 (ESV)

Have you ever been betrayed? How did it feel? Many of us have felt some form of betrayal either by a loved one, a friend, etc. It hurts. There’s no way around that fact. When we have been betrayed by someone in whom we have placed trust and faith, the reaction is pain, confusion, anger, bitterness, etc. These feelings come as naturally as breathing. Why is this? We know that betrayal comes at a price. The price is the relationship that we held so dear coming to an end. For many of us, we move on. We leave those broken relationships and start new ones.

This is the background of Hosea 1. God told Hosea to marry someone Hosea knew would be unfaithful. This is a physical picture of Israel’s and our betrayal and unfaithfulness to God. Israel broke God’s covenant by worshiping other gods and abandoning their relationship with the one true God. God describes this betrayal as a wife being unfaithful to her husband. This is what we do every time we disobey God. Whenever we do something we know we shouldn’t do or when we don’t do something we know we should, we are being unfaithful to God. This happens every day.

However, God is not like us. Even though God tells Israel that they will no longer be His people and He will have no mercy for the sin they have committed. He is still faithful to the covenant that He made with them. Even amongst Israel’s rebellion and sin, God told them that He wouldn’t abandon them. They would be numbered like the sand in the sea and they would be called His people. It is the same with us. When we are unfaithful to God, He is hurt. However, instead of leaving us behind, He brings us further towards Him and calls us His people. No longer are we called “not my people” for the sin we have committed. Rather, through the work of Jesus on the cross, we are now called “Children of the living God!”

This week, thank God for being faithful to us even when we were unfaithful to Him. Show his faithfulness and love to those around you so they too may be called “Children of the living God!”