The Love of God

Hosea 2:19-20 "And I will betroth thee unto me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgement, and in lovingkindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness; and thou shalt know the Lord"

I cannot begin to comprehend the love of God. It seems to me that there are so many layers to the depth of that love, that if we were to peel away each layer one at a time, there would be just as many layers remaining..because His love is endless. I have read the incredible story of Hosea and Gomer, and cried..because it speaks so loudly to me that although Gomer was unfaithful..although Israel was unfaithful..although we are unfaithful..God's love is unchanging. He continually offers forgiveness, and a renewed relationship with Himself.

God asks Hosea to do the unthinkable...to buy back his adulterous, and unrepentant wife..and then..to continue to love her..and to forgive her. Hosea could have divorced her..but he didn't. Hosea even had to pay to get her back..although the amount required was small..because at that point, Gomer was not worth much to anyone..except to Hosea. He loved her just as God loved Israel..just as He loves us. No matter how low any of us have ever sunk..God is willing to "buy us back"..to redeem us..and He has done so in the death and resurrection of His Son. The price that He paid to be our Redeemer was great. He paid with His life.

Ray and I watched an excellent movie on Hallmark recently called "The Magic of Ordinary Days"..It is the story of a woman during WWII who is pregnant out of wedlock. Her father arranges a marriage with a man that she has never met..and throughout the rest of the movie, that man begins to demonstrate the love of God to her. He pursues her with that love. He continually reaches out to her, and her heart begins to change. As she begins to see the love of Christ, demonstrated to her by her husband, her heart is softened and she repents..and she and her husband begin a beautiful and deeply loving relationship.

God's wedding gift to His people, both in Hosea's day, and in our own, is His mercy. Through no merit of our own, He forgives us and makes us right with Him. There is no way by our own efforts to reach God's high standard for moral and spiritual life, but He graciously accepts us, forgives us, and draws us into a relationship with Him. In that relationship, we have personal and intimate communion with Him.

God's love for you is unchanging..and it is everlasting...and He wants you to know Him as you never have before. I challenge each of us this weekend to take some time with our Beloved. There is no higher honor than to sit at His feet. There is no greater joy than knowing Him..and than realizing that as you sink deeper into the layers of that love, the layers will only grow deeper.

Ok..to end this week, I will leave you with a funny story. After Ray and I had watched the movie that I told you about, we were discussing how the man in the movie pursued his wife with the love of Christ, and how it didn't matter what she had done..but that this man was daily living that love out and it was ministering to her. Ray reminded me of the story of Hosea and Gomer..but he forgot for a second what Hosea's name was..I was busy doing something when he said to me.."Who was it that Gomer was with?"..and my reply was.."What? Are you talking about Goober?" We laughed for an hour!
Love you all!