This is an excerpt from my book that I read this morning... I have read Hosea more than once and I have heard something like this said a hundred different ways over the years. But God has been breaking down my heart more and more lately, humbling me, reminding me how completely broken and ugly I am without Him. He is teaching me what true grace looks like, and this story just rocked me today. This kind of love is incomprehensible for my human mind. Yet this IS my love story...except I am the one causing all the pain, I am the adulterous wife. What right do I have to withhold grace from others when God's grace for me never runs dry? Praise God He is nothing like me.
"Let me tell you a story about a man who was crazy in love with a woman. This man longed for this woman. He wanted to protect her. He wanted to cherish her. He delighted in her. He thought of her constantly and decided that she had to be his wife. Sounds beautiful, right? Now, let me tell you about the woman. She was... a whore. She didn't want to give herself to only one man.She loved the attention of multiple men. She didn't just love the attention, she loved the money and gifts he men she slept with gave to her. She knew she was loved exclusively and wholly by this one man, but she didn't care at all. He doted on her, gave her gifts, told her of his love, and she was indifferent.
Eventually, however, she gave in and became his wife. They committed to remaining faithful to each other. For him that was an eternal promise and a forever covenant. For her it was just words, like a thousand other words she had spoken previously and hadn't meant. After they were married for a bit, she decided she was bored and what she really needed was some of the excitement she had experienced before marriage. So she went back to her old lifestyle of chasing men. She looked for other lovers, yes, lovers...plural. She longed for the gifts they gave her. She sold herself to her other lovers and was an actual sex slave for them.
From the day she left, her husband began searching for her, and when he finally found her, he had to pay for her in order to bring her home. From his own money and wealth he one again sacrificed for this woman who had little or no love for him. The man had always been faithful, regardless of her actions. Of course, his heart hurt because of what she had done. He threatened to punish and ignore her, but in the end his love and his heart for this woman was so full and great that he took her back. He didn't just take her back reluctantly, though, He decided he would speak tenderly to her, allure her, woo her. He decided to give her gifts. He gave her hope that he would always love her. He asked her to call him her husband again. He had every right to take her outside the city gates and stone her, but instead he relinquished those rights. He literally owned her at this point, and yet he didn't want to be her master, he wanted to be intimate with her. He promised his steadfast love.
A story like this is stunning. We read about it and conclude that something is significantly wrong. He shouldn't love her after what she did to him. And if for some crazy reason he did decided to take her back, he should make her pay. He should be distant and remind her of all that she has done. He shouldn't be the one wooing her; she should have to work to woo him. She owes him big time.It seems that his forgiveness of her is just enabling her to continue her lifestyle -- that essentially what he is communicating to her is "Just go ahead and do whatever you want. I will bail you out in the end." This story rubs us the wrong way. It doesn't fit into our quid-pro-quo philosophy: "I will love you to the degree that you love me." In our self righteousness we can barely believe that anybody would be so dumb as to take a prostitute as a wife. It's crazy.
Here's the rub: You and I are that prostitute. Let that sink in for a minute.
Maybe you have guessed by now that the story above is from the book of Hosea. Hosea's marriage to Gomer id s parable illustrating God's relationship to his adulterous people (and by the way, we're "his adulterous people"). We play the role of the whore in this parable. Even writing that makes me a little angry. I don't want to view myself that way. I want to be the faithful one, the good one. And yet, the truth is that I a m aware of God's unmatched love for me, of his good and plentiful gifts, and yet every day I run after other loves. What other loves? Instead of reading my Bible, I decided to spend time on Facebook. Instead of believing that God's love is enough, I look for human approval and admiration. Instead of trusting that he will take care of me as he promised to, I manipulate and worry and try and figure out ways to take care of myself. I am the adulterous spouse, and so are you...
He continues to speak of His faithfulness to us, even in the midst of our unfaithfulness...
In the very moment that God's anger at sin should be the controlling emotion, his heart can't do it. He feels compassion instead of anger. Unspeakable grace.
Wrath is what you and I deserve. He has every right to come after us with his full wrath on display, but He tells us, " I am not like you, I am God. That is not how I deal with my beloved." (Hosea 11:8)
Excerpt from "Everyday Grace" by Jessica Thompson
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