December 5
Hosea 1:1-3:5; 1 John 5:1-21; Psalm 124:1-8; Proverbs 29:5-8
Many of us have experienced the pain of unrequited love. Often this was when we were young and had a crush on someone who didn’t feel the same about us, but loving someone who doesn’t love us back is always difficult.
Hosea is a tale of this kind of love. Hosea is called by God to love a woman who will constantly cheat on him. He is called to a painful love as a picture for the nation of how God feels. God has continually wooed Israel and yet they have constantly pursued idols rather than him. They run after temporary pleasure and inferior lovers, rather than allowing God to be their source of fulfillment, identity, and love. Yet God in his immense capacity for love and his endless patience continues to pursue his people. Thankfully he does the same to us. No matter how far we drift, no matter how often we sin, God continues to pursue us and never gives up on us.
Our response to God’s love is to choose to love him, commit to him, and obey him. Then as the final verse of 1 John tells us, let us “keep yourselves from idol.” We are called to give God the place he deserves to be. He is to be the one we devote our lives to, the one we are to worship, and the one we are to glorify. So let us not be like Gomer but instead reflect God’s love in the way we love him and others.
Father God, thank you for your perfect love. Help me to love you and others in a way that reflects your love. Amen.
Question: In what ways is your love towards God fickle?
Many of us have experienced the pain of unrequited love. Often this was when we were young and had a crush on someone who didn’t feel the same about us, but loving someone who doesn’t love us back is always difficult.
Hosea is a tale of this kind of love. Hosea is called by God to love a woman who will constantly cheat on him. He is called to a painful love as a picture for the nation of how God feels. God has continually wooed Israel and yet they have constantly pursued idols rather than him. They run after temporary pleasure and inferior lovers, rather than allowing God to be their source of fulfillment, identity, and love. Yet God in his immense capacity for love and his endless patience continues to pursue his people. Thankfully he does the same to us. No matter how far we drift, no matter how often we sin, God continues to pursue us and never gives up on us.
Our response to God’s love is to choose to love him, commit to him, and obey him. Then as the final verse of 1 John tells us, let us “keep yourselves from idol.” We are called to give God the place he deserves to be. He is to be the one we devote our lives to, the one we are to worship, and the one we are to glorify. So let us not be like Gomer but instead reflect God’s love in the way we love him and others.
Father God, thank you for your perfect love. Help me to love you and others in a way that reflects your love. Amen.
Question: In what ways is your love towards God fickle?
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