God told Hosea that at one time the Israelites were not His people but now they are and He calls them beloved. It didn’t matter how many times the Israelites messed up or how they saw themselves. God never let them go and deeply loved them. The same is true for us today. We are God’s people and beloved by Him.
Beloved means to be deeply loved in a way that we can’t fully comprehend.
If we believe that God deeply loves us beyond our capacity to love, it gives us the ability to overcome how we see ourselves when we mess up or when the world tries to tell us we aren’t good enough. Whenever I begin to give in to my own thoughts about myself or what the world tries to tell me, I go back to the story of Hannah.
1 Samuel 1:6-11
Because the LORD had closed Hannah’s womb, her rival kept provoking her in order to irritate her. This went on year after year. Whenever Hannah went up to the house of the LORD, her rival provoked her till she wept and would not eat. Her husband Elkanah would say to her, “Hannah, why are you weeping? Why don’t you eat? Why are you downhearted? Don’t I mean more to you than ten sons?” Once when they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh, Hannah stood up. Now Eli the priest was sitting on his chair by the doorpost of the LORD’s house. In her deep anguish, Hannah prayed to the LORD, weeping bitterly. And she made a vow, saying, “LORD Almighty, if you will only look on your servant’s misery and remember me, and not forget your servant but give her a son, then I will give him to the LORD for all the days of his life, and no razor will ever be used on his head.”
Hannah had someone constantly telling her lies about herself because she was unable to have children. Whatever was said to her led to lots of tears and even caused her to lose her appetite. Still, she didn’t just sit and dwell on what she was told. She went to the one who deeply loved her and gave it to Him. She prayed and asked God to remember her and give her a son. If you read the rest of Samuel 1 you will see that God does remember her and gives her a son.
When we struggle with how we view ourselves or with the harsh words of others, we need to respond like Hannah. We need to go to our beloved, seek His face and ask Him to show us who we are in Him. He will answer us and give us the strength to stand against the lies that try to defeat us. Be encouraged today…YOU ARE BELOVED!
