chasing

She said, "I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water..."...She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them...So now I will expose her...no one will take her out of my hands...Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her...I will betroth you to me forever. (Hosea 2:5, 7, 10, 14,19)


Hosea 2 is such a challenging, convicting, and passionately tender chapter.  It calls me to recognize the ways I have left the Lover of My Soul, and have chased after lovers that can never even begin to satisfy the deepest longings of my heart.  It calls me to name them: affirmation, security, significance, recognition, esteem, etc., etc., etc., and to identify them as the cheap hookers that they really are.  It calls me to repent, to turn, to stop chasing after these sorry substitutes and turn back to the One who knows me like no other and loves me like no other.  It calls me to leave their flimsy, glittering arms and return the arms of Him who can hold me like no other, who made me uniquely and wonderfully for deep intimacy with Himself.  It calls me to Him who continually asks me the question, "Are you chasing lovers, or are you chasing Me?"

O Lord, my God, what false lovers do I continually chase after for my food and my water; for my security and my significance; for my value and my worth; for affirmation and identity?  Help me to recognize that when I chase after these "lovers," I have left you, my One True Love.  Allure me now, O Lover-God, betroth me to You, and You alone...forever.  Ravish me with your passionate love and capture my heart completely.  Make it wholly yours, that I may chase ever and always only after You.