Read Hosea 1:2-10 and John 1:12
“In the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘children of the living God.’” (Hosea 1:10)
Have you ever endured a heartache and wondered why God allowed it? Are you ever so bewildered by circumstances that you ask God why?
Why would God ask Hosea to marry a prostitute? Why would he remain devoted to a wife who was unfaithful? Adding insult to injury, why did God bring judgment? Hosea was obedient, so why should he suffer? It’s simply not fair! As perplexing as suffering is, Hosea is a comfort, for he shows us who God is: the Great Lover of our soul! Pure and unconditional, God’s love is deep and wide, reaching out to the whore, the unfaithful, the sinner, people like me and you. Sadly, Gomer shows us who we are; the harlot, who gets wooed away into the arms of idolatry.
Why are bad lovers, like Fear, Pride, Anger, Self-Entitlement, and Self- pity…so seductive? Why are we tempted to turn away from God’s love? Gomer’s bad choices must have been a painful blow to Hosea, just as our unfaithfulness is like a slap in God’s holy face! After all Hosea did for Gomer, adultery must have felt like an arrow straight into his heart. Similarly, after all God has done for us, our sin must feel like a stab in His back! God has every reason to be a scorned lover, to make us, the guilty ones, pay, but His contempt for us was poured out completely, on Jesus, at the Cross.
Why? “Because this is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16). His arms were stretched out wide for us and remain held out for the world around us. Are you willing to take up your cross and suffer for His name’s sake, so that others may know how loved and forgiven they are?
DIG DEEPER:
- Is God asking you to do something that feels impossible? Forgive someone who has wounded you? Love someone who is difficult? Consider Luke 7:36-50 and ponder how forgiven you are so that you, too, can become a person who is empowered to love much. What will your first step of obedience in this direction be?
written by Teresa Freding
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