I will heal their defection and love them freely, for my wrath is turned away from them. The prophecy of Hosea concludes on a “happy” tone. God has afforded Israel an opportunity to repent of all her crimes before the Lord for the Lord has relented and forgiven them already. God refuses to  react to Israel’s actions (I will not destroy Ephraim again, for I am God, and not man [Hosea 11:9bc]) and asks Israel to return to the Lord: “One of us has to act like an adult, and it has to be me,” the Lord seems to say ( I am the holy one in your midst [Hosea 11:9d]), before proceeding to unconditionally pardon Israel. 
It is the holiness of God that keeps the relationship between God and humanity alive. Humanity has always rebelled against God, and God has always forgiven humanity of her numerous iniquities ( If the Lord were to mark our iniquities, who would survive? cf. Psalm 130:3). Indeed, the Lord does not treat us as our sins deserve (cf. Psalm 103:10). It is this quality (holiness of God) that sets apart the Lord our God. God’s treatment of Israel reminds us that we should not let our past sins prevent us from returning to the Lord. The love which the Lord God has for us, beautifully expressed in the story of Hosea, cannot allow the Lord God to count our sins or use them to shut us out of God’s life-giving embrace. The Lord is happy when we are by his side, and in case we stray away, is always waiting longingly for us to come back to him in order to begin a new journey/relationship with him. The Lord wishes that our relationship with him be marked by justice (justice understood as righteousness, that is, striving to do right) and fidelity to the covenant. May we seek the Lord when he can still be found, for away from the Lord, we can never have fullness of life.