Captive vs. Captivating

5 Their mother has been unfaithful and has conceived them in disgrace. She said, 'I will go after my lovers, who give me my food and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.'
6 Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way.
7 She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, 'I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now.'
8 She has not acknowledged that I was the one who gave her the grain, the new wine and oil, who lavished on her the silver and gold— which they used for Baal.
9 "Therefore I will take away my grain when it ripens, and my new wine when it is ready. I will take back my wool and my linen, intended to cover her nakedness.
10 So now I will expose her lewdness before the eyes of her lovers; no one will take her out of my hands.
11 I will stop all her celebrations: her yearly festivals, her New Moons, her Sabbath days—all her appointed feasts.
12 I will ruin her vines and her fig trees, which she said were her pay from her lovers; I will make them a thicket, and wild animals will devour them.
13 I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but me she forgot," declares the LORD.
14 "Therefore I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her.
15 There I will give her back her vineyards, and will make the Valley of Achor [a] a door of hope. There she will sing [b] as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt.
16 "In that day," declares the LORD, "you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master. [c] '
17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her lips; no longer will their names be invoked.
18 In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the creatures that move along the ground. Bow and sword and battle I will abolish from the land, so that all may lie down in safety.
19 I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in [d] righteousness and justice, in [e] love and compassion.
20 I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the LORD.
21 "In that day I will respond," declares the LORD— "I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth;
22 and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and oil, and they will respond to Jezreel. [f]
23 I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called 'Not my loved one. [g] ' I will say to those called 'Not my people, [h] ' 'You are my people'; and they will say, 'You are my God.' "

Hosea 2:5-23

Look at how much God loves us! Our God is a jealous God because the Lord is our Husband. This really struck me, today. I was reading out of Captivating, today, and it cited Hosea 2. I wasn't familiar with the chapter, and as I read it, I was blown away!

I mean, the language used! God truly loves us! He's the lover of our souls and wants to give us good things, but we...I...look to other sources of pleasure, of happiness, of validation, of nourishment. God knows that we need Him...He loves us enough to thwart us in our attempts to run away, to try to humble us so that we might return to Him. I can't get over His intense love...the way He treasures me...the way He provides for me, cares for me, protects me, comforts me...He truly is all I need...I feel so foolish for trying to satisfy myself through other means.

It makes me think of this song, and since I have to go to bed, now...I won't be able to fully explain myself, but here are the lyrics:

Lord, You know how much

I want to know so much

In the way of answers and explanations

I have cried and prayed

And still I seem to stay

In the middle of life’s complications

All this pursuing leaves me feeling like I’m chasing down the wind

But now it’s brought me back to You

And I can see again

This is everything I want

This is everything I need

I want this to be my one consuming passion

Everything my heart desiresLord, I want it all to be for You, Jesus

Be my magnificent obsessionSo capture my heart againTake me to depths I’ve never been

Into the riches of Your grace and Your mercy

Return me to the cross

And let me be completely lost

In the wonder of the love

That You’ve shown me

Cut through these chains that tie me down to so many lesser things

Let all my dreams fall to the ground

Until this one remains

You are everything I want

And You are everything I need

Lord, You are all my heart desires

You are everything to me

You are everything I want

You are everything I need

I want You to be my one consuming passion

Everything my heart desiresLord, I want it all to be for You

I want it all to be for You