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Go and Show Your Love Again
"The Lord said to me, 'Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress...'" (Hosea 3:1 NIV).
Other than the cross of Jesus itself, the book of Hosea paints perhaps the most vivid picture of God's love for his rebellious people. God has told His prophet, Hosea, that He would demonstrate His love for Israel through a most unlikely mission: "Go, take yourself an adulterous wife" (Hosea 1:2). So Hosea marries Gomer.
What follows is heart-wrenching, both from the historical perspective on Hosea's life, and from the theological standpoint that says, "This is how God loves His people."
As you read through the book (its 14 chapters read quickly), ask yourself:
* Why did God ask the prophet Hosea to marry an adulterous wife?
* What does this picture (adultery) demonstrate about how God feels†
when we pursue things that pull us away from Him?
†Without presuming too much about what God "feels", I believe God's
choice of a marital relationship validates the use of the term.
* How are you like Gomer? (positives as well as negatives)
* What did Hosea do for Gomer, and whose idea was it to do that (3:1)?
* Does God reluctantly cleanse us of our sin because He's obligated to
(because He said He would)?
* What is really God's desire for your relationship with Him?
God Shows His Love... Again
The love Hosea shows (not merely "feels", but SHOWS) for Gomer is amazing. The point of the story is undeniable. And it's not just that God loves us. It is that God loves us even though we've been unfaithful to Him! Even after we've shipwrecked ourselves by our infidelity and sin, God "goes and shows His love again."
In a most politically incorrect way, God shows us that we are not "good people." And the path out of this forlorn desert is not to improve our self-image. It is to acknowledge our sin to Him. Our bondage. Our desperate need. It's the bridge of humility and self-awareness that must be crossed if an oasis of good news is to be found.
The bad news is that in the searchlight of a pure and perfect God, I am a terrible, indefensible, condemnable mess (just like Gomer). The surprising response from God? He shows His love again. He buys us back, washes our feet, forgives our sin, restores our relationship to Him. That is the best kind of news.
So let's stop trying to convince ourselves how good or worthy or "together" we are. Let's be broken and honest before Him, and drink deeply of the love that endures forever.
selah
pause. meditate.
- Hosea 3:1
- The Lord said to me, "Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes."
