Hosea’s life is his sermon.  Called by God to marry a faithless wife, Hosea pursues her with an unrelenting love.  This was God’s last-ditch attempt to get Israel to pay attention to his message before it was too late: Returning to your first love is always better than staying away.

“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son…My people are bent on turning away from me.  Though they call to him on high, he will not exalt them at all…[Yet] I will not vent the full fury of my anger…For I am God and not man, the Holy One. (11:1, 7, 9)