I Will Allure Her

"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her." Hosea 2:14

Allure is not a word we use much, and when we do we usually mean something a little dishonest. A lure is what you put on a hook.

That is not this.

The allurement here is not to trick. It is a persuasion that radically suggests a different option than the one we are living. It says, would you be willing to consider something else. Would you be willing to see my goodness as greater than whatever it is you love more than me.

And notice the mechanism, because it is the strangest part of the verse. He does not corner her. He does not expose her. He brings her into the wilderness and speaks tenderly.

Faithful love never forces itself on anybody.

Think of the two on the Emmaus road. They are walking away from Jerusalem, away from their group, away from everything, and they are doing it after two separate testimonies came back and told them the tomb was empty. They heard the women. They sent the men. And they walked away anyway.

And Jesus comes alongside them and hides their eyes and just walks.

He had every reason to boast. He had just defeated death. He could have said, what is wrong with you, you had two witnesses. Instead he listens. He asks questions. He opens the Scriptures and shows them how the whole thing has been pointing at him the entire time, and he lets them not know it is him.

He never once pushes them to see him.

He walks in the direction they are already going.

I have wondered whether he does that all the way. Whether he walks the ones who are turning away as far as they will go, still speaking tenderly, still offering the other option, right up to the gate.

Their hearts burned first. The recognition came second.

He is not going to force you.

He is going to walk with you until something burns.