“Do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife? Do you promise to love her, honor her and keep her for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, and to be faithful only to her for as long as you both shall live?”
“I do.”
“And do you take this man to be your husband? …”
When you hear wedding vows, what does it stir up in your heart?
Depending on your experiences, hearing these promises of marriage may leave you feeling:
- Grateful for the imperfect, but beautiful marriage God has given you
- Heartbroken over vows that didn’t last
- Mournful, in remembrance of the life-partner who passed away too soon
- or Wistful because you’re longing for what isn’t yours yet
Wedding vows promise a forever kind of love that people long for. But whether we are enjoying that love right now or are doing without it, we need to remember…
Marriage was always meant to point to an even greater, more lasting love:
The love God has for His people.
Listen to His vows to the Israelites in Hosea 2:19-20:
I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in lovingkindness and in compassion, and I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the LORD. (NASB)
No human relationship could ever compare with the one God promises here…because it’s a relationship built on unbreakable vows and filled with indescribable love.
A Relationship Built on Unbreakable Vows
The relationships we have with other people are fragile because everyone involved is fallible. But our relationship with God is altogether different—it cannot be broken.
Now, this is an incredible truth. But if we want to truly appreciate it, we need to understand that a different kind of relationship with God existed before.
In the Old Testament, Israel’s relationship with God was based on an “if-then” agreement. If the people obeyed, then God would bless them and be their God.
And in almost every Old Testament book, we see a pattern: God kept His side of the deal, but the Israelites failed. Time after time, they pushed away from God to chase after their desires and other gods. And so their relationship was broken.
But in Hosea 2:19-20, God promised that one day they’d have a new kind of relationship with Him.
One based—not on their faithfulness—but on God’s. And this is the relationship made available to us in Jesus.
There are two important things to notice about these Hosea verses:
- Only God is making promises. He says: “I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in lovingkindness and in compassion, and I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.” (NASB, emphasis mine)
So the security of a Believer’s relationship with God isn’t dependent on whether or not they measure up to a certain standard. It’s based solely on whether or not God keeps His promises. And this is really good news because…
- God’s promises are secured by His attributes. Did you notice the similarities between God’s promises here and how Scripture describes God the Father and Jesus elsewhere?
God can keep His promise to betroth us to Himself…
- Forever—because God is eternal and Christ ever lives to intercede for us. (Deuteronomy 33:27, Hebrews 7:25)
- In justice—because He’s both the Judge who justly punishes sin AND the Justifier who took our punishment personally on the cross (Romans 3:26)
- In righteousness—because God is righteous and Jesus clothes us with His righteousness. (Psalm 145:17, 2 Corinthians 5:21)
- In lovingkindness—because God is love and He demonstrated His love in Jesus. (1 John 4:8-9)
- In compassion—because He is the compassionate God, the great High Priest who can empathize with our weaknesses (Exodus 34:6, Hebrews 4:15)
- And in faithfulness—because God is faithful in all that He does and Jesus’ very name is “Faithful and True.” (Psalm 145:17, Revelation 19:11)
Our relationship with God is unbreakable because it is secured by who our God is and what He’s done for us.
And so we don’t have to walk on eggshells anymore. We don’t have to entertain thoughts like: “Will it eventually end? Will I mess it up? Will He fall out of love with me because I’m not _______ enough?”
The truth is we will mess up. But even then, God will love us.
His love for us is as unchanging as His character.
And with a God like this, we can be oh so glad the relationship is unbreakable.
A Relationship Filled with Indescribable Love
Do you know anyone else whose love for you is full of justice, righteousness, lovingkindness, compassion and faithfulness all the time? And all at the same time?
I don’t. Only God loves like that because only God is all that.
You know, we may know this with our heads, but I pray it reaches down to empty, achy places in our hearts:
God loves us with all that He is.
He loves us with words and actions that are just and right. He loves us with a passion expressed in kindness and compassion for our weaknesses. He loves us with fidelity, a faithfulness that keeps every promise and never walks away.
Isn’t this how we long to be loved?
God Himself is the Lover we’ve been looking for all along. And through Christ, we get to enjoy Him forever.
May we notice Him, get to know Him and fall even more in love with Him this week.
This devotion is based on one of the Scriptures from my reading plan: “God’s Love for Us.” To receive a copy of the reading plan, sign up for the email list below. Hope you’ll follow along!
©2023 Paige K. Burhans
Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation. www.lockman.org
