“I will be faithful to you and make you mine, and you will finally know me as the LORD.” Hosea 2:20
We had just grilled some delicious hot dogs for the fourth of July, and the next night, with three franks left over, we were all out of hot dog buns. Have you ever noticed how the number of franks in a pack and the number of buns in a pack don’t usually match up? I digress, lol. But, when she mentioned she’d like a hot dog, without hesitation I told my wife to hold on a minute and I would run to the store for hot dog buns. And, even with her insistence that I not go to that trouble, I took off like a rocket and was back in a flash.
Now I’m not sharing all this in hopes of getting the “Husband of the Year” award, but only to illustrate a point. And the point is that if my wife needs some buns for her hot dogs, then in that moment I’m the “go to the store and get some buns for your hot dogs husband.” Why? Because we are in a covenant, and covenant means that we look out for each other’s interests and needs, even if that looks like hot dog buns.
In Hosea chapter two, God is speaking through Hosea the prophet and telling Israel that He wants to be a husband to them – a husband of covenant who was there to meet their needs, to protect them, and provide for them in every way. Through the written words, you can hear His longing leap off the page as He expresses His desire to know them and for them to know Him in the most intimate and personal of ways. He didn’t just want them to know Him as God, but as LORD.
This word, “LORD,” is the Hebrew word, Jehovah, and means “existing One,” or “I have become.” We see the word LORD, or Jehovah, throughout the Old Testament and particularly in front of certain words like Jehovah Jireh, which means, “I have become your provider,” or Jehovah Rapha, meaning “I have become your healer.” All this to say, the same heart that God had for His people then, He still has for His people today, and all of this has been made possible through the finished work of Jesus.
Today, let the LORD be your “whatever it is your need.”