This past week in our “Studying the Bible” course, we read Hosea. We only read through the first three chapters, but the things that the Lord spoke to us and to me that evening rocked my world. Here is just a portion of how God spoke His love.
and became pregnant in a shameful way.
She said, ‘I’ll run after other lovers
and sell myself to them for food and water,
for clothing of wool and linen,
and for olive oil and drinks.’
8She doesn’t realize it was I who gave her
everything she has –
the grain, the new wine, the olive oil;
I even gave her silver and gold.
But she gave all my gifts to Baal.
13I will punish her for all those times
when she burned incense to her images of Baal,
when she put on her earrings and jewels
and went out to look for her lovers
but forgot all about me,”
says the Lord.
This is a picture of me. (And if I had to guess, probably a picture of you, too.)
In Follow Me, David Platt says “We can’t fathom a Christian on the other side of the world believing that a wooden god can save them, but we have no problem believing that religion, money, possessions, food, fame, sex, sports, status, and success can satisfy us. Do we actually think that we have fewer idols to let go of in our repentance?”
To put it very bluntly, in my life I have been a whore before the Lord.
I’ve chased after other lovers – a thinner body, straight A’s, men to think I’m attractive, an impressive car, a new wardrobe, a house of my own, a job that pays well, and the list could go on. These are the things I have looked to in order to find my happiness. These are things I have thought would provide me what I needed in life – my sources of “food and water, clothing, wool, and linen.”
And when provision has come, how often have I given credit to my own success with earthly things? How often have I forgotten that God is the one who gives me literally EVERYTHING that I have. None of it is by my own doing, and none of it can even be accredited to this earth. And yet, when I need provision, I seek after these earthly lovers, and forget all about my Creator, my Father.
It breaks my heart to hear the words of the Lord say, “You forgot about me.” And if it breaks my heart, I can’t imagine how much it breaks His heart every single day when we do just that. We forget about him. I forget about Him.
And yet, this is His ultimate response to my adulterous heart…
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her there.
15I will return her vineyards to her
and transform the Valley of Trouble into
a gateway of hope.
16When that day comes,” says the Lord,
“you will call me ‘my husband’
instead of ‘my master.’
17O Isreael, I will wipe the many names of Baal
from your lips,
and you will never mention them again.
19I will make you my wife forever,
showing you righteousness and justice,
unfailing love and compassion.
20I will be faithful to you and make you mine,
and you will finally know me as the Lord.”
Wait, what? That makes no sense. His response to my crap and my breaking of His heart…is to pursue me, to be tender with me, to win me back and to be with me forever? To pour out His love, His faithfulness, His very heart?
As a girl in my class said, “That’s a stupid kind of love.” If we had a friend that was being repeatedly cheated on by their significant other, and that friend decided that they were going to just keep going back time after time, we would call that stupid. 
And yet that is what the Lord does for me.
After all my crap, God still calls me His. He wants to take my valley of troubles and death, and turn it into hope and life. He wants to romance me. He has made me promises, that I will be His forever, and I won’t have to call Him master – I can call Him husband, a term of endearment, love, and covenant. He wants to purify me, and get rid of all the names of my false gods and idols from my heart and lips. He will show me His ways. He wants the best for me – and the best for me is Himself.
He wants me.
Do you get that? You can act pretty crappy here on earth, giving your attention and love to things that will never truly satisfy you, and ultimately break your Father’s heart. And after all that, it doesn’t matter, because He still loves you, He still wants you, He still chooses you, and He will continue to pursue you every day of your life until you choose to love Him back. And even then, He will continue to pursue you forever.
On earth, that's what we would call a stupid kind of love.
But in God's Kingdom, that’s the one and only definition of love.
