God longs for the time in the wilderness, after the exodus from Egypt. Like a man looks back on the time of the first courtship, when he and his girlfriend were completely in love with each other. That was also the time when the covenant (the wedding
of God and his people) was made. They had pledged their loyalty to each other forever. Although the wilderness in itself is not a pleasant place (you cannot sow and reap there), Israel had trusted God and followed him there.
2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the LORD, “I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.