Hosea 2:14 - "But then I will win her back once again. I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her there."
One of the most endearing qualities of God is His love for His people. He certainly has many more (too many to count), but I don't have all day here. God's love for us is just so mind blowing sometimes.
The story of Hosea is such a great image of God's love for His people. This second chapter starts out with God talking about how done He is with His unfaithful bride, but then does a complete 180. It's like God is saying to us, "I can't quit you because I love you too much." God could easily punish us for our unfaithfulness. He could violate our free will if He wanted to and make us serve and worship Him. But He doesn't work that way.
Verse 13 in this chapter starts out saying that He will punish His bride for all those instances of unfaithfulness, but in verse 14, He flips the switch and says He will win us back and speak tenderly to us to convince us of His love for us. He wants to punish, and would be justified to do so, but He can't do that because He loves us too much. He just wants to love us. He wants to woo us and court us. Anyone who claims that God is a vengeful and mean-spirited God, don't know the God of the Bible. He is none of those things.
God is love, and there is no getting around that. In 1 Corinthians 13, verses 4-7 give a much better listing of God's qualities (much better than I could ever list). One of my favorites in this list, is verse 5 when Paul says that love (God) does not demand its own way. I am so thankful that God let me come to Him in my time and in my way. That's the loving and faithful Father that I have come to know.
Dear Abba Father, thank You for loving me with a love that knows no end. Thank You for showing me how much You really do love me, and want nothing but the best for me. I pray that I learn to show that love to others so that they will see just how much You really love us all. I pray for those that don't know Your love. They listen to misguided notions about the nature of Your character, and trust in the wrong things. My prayer is that Your Spirit will reach their heart and show them just how much You want them to be home with You for eternity. In Jesus' name, Amen!
God Bless!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment