Hosea: a lesson in God's faithfulness!

God told Hosea to marry an unfaithful woman. Ouch. That just might suck. The good news, maybe, is that Hosea (might have) picked her out. He might have even truly loved her from the beginning. Which would have made her betrayal even more painful. However, God had warned.. well rather even commanded, that she would be unfaithful. Hosea saw it coming. The thing was, that in his pain, Hosea had to trust, rest & walk in the faithfulness of God. He had to believe that God was who He said He was, and that He would make things good at some point. And what an example of surrender. It doesn't say that Hosea argued with God about this (though he may have) but even if he did, God's word won out, and Hosea obeyed.

Hosea is the story of one man & his wife. It is the story of the nation of Israel. Is is the story of my life. Over and over again in the Bible, the people of God are unfaithful, they chase after "less-wild lovers" and forsake the unfailingly faithful and merciful Lover. Over and over I do that to God. I pursue other lovers and leave the only One who is good behind. I deserve nothing less than death... the punishment for adultery. But my Lord is extravagantly gracious and merciful. He loves unconditionally far beyond the bounds of humanity. Over and over He takes me back into His arms, cleans me up, clothes me in the garments of His house, and loves me again. And so many times I sneak out again, chasing anything shiny that has caught my eye. I don't understand this: the relentless, gracious, tender love of Jesus.

"Jesus gained the power to love harlots, bullies, and ruffians.. He was able to do this only because He saw through the filth and crust of degeneration, because His eye caught the divine original which is hidden in every way - in every man ... First and foremost He gives us new eyes. When Jesus loved a guilt-laden person and helped him, He saw in him an erring child of God. He saw in him a human being whom His Father loved and grieved over because he was going wrong, He saw him as God originally designed and meant him to be and therefore He saw through the surface layer of grime and dirt to the real man underneath. Jesus did not identify the person with his sin, but rather saw in this sin something alien, something that really did not belong to him, something that merely chained and mastered him and from which He would free him and bring him back to his real self. Jesus was able to love men because He loved them right through the layer of mud." - Helmut Thielicke

Jesus looks at me this way, He sees through the muck and mire of my sin.. into the soul He deeply desires. This is the "reward of His suffering". Intimate fellowship with me. With all men, individually. So... what can I do about it? What can I do to ensure that Jesus receive His reward? By telling the world about this crazy love. By sharing, even with just one person, how amazingly pursued they are. That a high price was paid for them (Isaiah 43: 4 & 53:1-6) and that God desperately desires fellowship with them. That this God, does not care what they have done, He has seen it all, and still extends grace. He offers justification and forgiveness. A fresh start, to be pure and clean as snow (Isaiah 1:18).


the above was found in some of my DTS lecture phase notes... and in a time in my life when I sometimes have some serious doubts about the faithfulness of God, here, a precious beautiful reminder of just how faithful He is! And then in the light of all of that, how much richer His GRACE is! wow. awesome. there are just no more words... :)