The Lesson
My Dad came back from World War Two with few stories and even less prized items. One was an American double edged commando dagger. One day I lost it in a paddock and never found it again. When I was fifteen I drove is brand new car into a river and ruined it beyond repair. I annoyed my father many other times. He still loved me but his love had limits! God's love for us is incomprehensible according to Ephesians 3:19 but God tries to explain His love for us by human relationships like father and mother. Even these metaphors of God's love for us are inadequate because sometimes human mothers and fathers hurt their babies and some even kill.
Perhaps the story of Hosea the prophet and Gomer the harlot is one of God's best illustrations of His love for us. Hosea (Salvation), a picture of God himself, was told to marry a prostitute (Hosea 1:2). We can imagine this was nobody’s first choice but God wanted to illustrate something that a faithful married couple or a faithful parent could never communicate. Gomer, whose name means complete failure had sold herself to many men previously but Hosea forgives and marries her. In spite of the incredible love Hosea shows her, she still believes she is undeserving of love and runs away from only person to truly love her. She left love and went back to selling herself. She knew sex but she didn't know love. She had children to different men but Hoséa kept forgiving her and taking her back.
Sometimes like Gomer, we don’t know how to receive that amount of love. Gomer couldn’t believe that she was worthy to be loved so she lived as though she wasn't . She sabotaged her relationships, as if to prove that she is unloved and unlovable. If we believe were unlovable we will keep acting out who we think we are instead of who we truly are. You are now the immeasurably loved son or the incredibly loved daughter.
Friend, comprehending more of Father's love for us will change the way we live. The story of Hosea shows you that as well as loving you as a father and mother, He also loves you as the Lover whose love will never end. When we are unfaithful, He is still teaching us His love not teaching us a lesson. His jealousy thrusts Him toward us, not away from us. God’s love is that persistent, that huge and that good.