"Go, love again."

“The LORD said to me, ‘Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.’” – Hosea 3:1

I can’t imagine what Hosea felt as God uttered these words to him, “Go, show your love to your wife again.” The wife who had betrayed him. The wife who had left him for another man. The woman who scorned his affections. I don’t know if Hosea had loved his wife the way I love mine, but I can imagine the pain and anger he must have felt over that love being rejected. Don’t miss that little word, “go”. Hosea had to make an effort to bring his wayward wife back. The passage goes on to tell that he had to buy her back from the slave market (or pimp) which her promiscuous journey had imprisoned her. She is the one who had left, yet he is the one having to pay the price.

Why would God do this to his prophet? He wanted to dramatize His unfailing love for Israel. When we imagine the pain of rejection Hosea felt, we can imagine the pain God feels when we reject His joy for the temporary pleasures of this world. Some theologians try to paint God as impassible – that’s a fancy word for unfeeling. The idea is that all pain or sorrow comes from a sense of loss, which ultimately comes from an unmet need. They logically deduce that since God has no needs, then God cannot feel pain or sorrow. But that’s not what the Bible tells us about God. God grieves over our sin. He is angry we have spurned His goodness.

Despite the injury we have done, God acts toward us in love. He moves to redeem us – buy us back. Through our idolatry, we have amassed this colossal debt of sin, which Jesus Christ has taken upon Himself. “Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering…he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities.” (Isaiah 53:4-5) Though we deserve judgment, God would rather take the pain upon Himself through the cross and thereby release us.  

The passage paints the idea of God loving us while we are in the act of loving another. And that’s exactly what Paul says in Romans, that while we were sinners Christ died for us. We carry good news: God doesn’t just love those who are good, He loves the wicked as well. We all once were wicked, we have only become good through the transformation of the Spirit in our lives. So let’s reflect on God’s incredible kindness to us in Jesus Christ. Let’s be quick to imitate His love to those who have hurt us. We have been given an incredible gift: grace. Let’s pass it on today.