God has loved us with an everlasting love, forgiven all our sins, embraced us as his children, and blessed us with every spiritual blessing. To backslide even once merely in thought would be more than sufficient reason, in human reckoning, for God to withdraw his love from us. But the real state of things is worse—much worse. Hosea says we are bent—inclined, directed, habituated—to backsliding, despite the immeasurable depth of God’s love. If left to ourselves, we will continually backslide from