Throwing Love Away

This morning I’m reposting a wonderful blog that Jennifer Rothschild wrote back in February of 2016. It beautifully considers the story of Hosea and Gomer and wrestles with the idea of how we far too often throw love away. As always, I’ve included reflective questions at the end.

Enjoy! P. Gene

The Incredible Scandal of God’s Perfect Love

“Mom, do you have to write on my napkin?”

That was 5-year-old Conner’s question after his first week of kindergarten. Every day I packed his lunch. Along with his juice box and peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I scribbled, “I love you” on a napkin and stuck it in his Batman lunchbox.

But he didn’t want me to do that anymore.

An Examination of Love: Do We Throw It Away? 

“I don’t want you to write on it because when I’m done,” Conner said. “I feel like I’m throwing your love away!”

“Oh, Connor,” I said as I flung my arms around his little frame, “just because you throw away your napkin doesn’t mean you throw away my love!”

He giggled in relief and confessed he didn’t really use napkins anyway.

I was struck by Connor’s sensitive heart, and it made me examine my own. Do I carelessly throw away God’s love? Do I casually dismiss the big and small ways God expresses His love to me? Do you? We all do sometimes, just like the wayward Israelites did in Hosea’s day …

Hosea and Gomer: An Unlikely Love Story

(Hosea) was a preacher—a prophet, really—who lived at a time when religious folks didn’t want to hear his message. The Israelites were more interested in worshiping idols than worshiping Jehovah. They were, as the hymn writer put it, “Prone to wander … prone to leave the God I love.”

One day, God told Hosea his bachelor days were up. The problem with the wedding announcement was it came with a dreadful prophecy.

His wife would break his heart. Aware of Gomer’s promiscuous reputation, Hosea humbled himself in obedience to the Lord.

As a godly man, he surely had different hopes for marriage—those of pursuing a lover who would share not only his heart but also his faith and convictions.

Hosea Hears Rumors 

How many times had he dreamed of late night talks, stolen kisses in the courtyard and holding hands as he drifted off to sleep beside the one with whom he longed to build his future? Instead, he awakened from his marriage vows to emptiness and abandonment. The Bible doesn’t say when or how; all we know is that it did happen.

But Hosea began to hear rumors. And his heart began to break.

His beloved was going off with other men. He couldn’t even be sure the children she bore were his. Hosea—a broken-hearted father, a betrayed husband and a bewildered preacher—felt like his fragile heart would never recover …

Hosea Does the Unthinkable

God told Hosea to do the unthinkable—to go redeem his wife. Gomer was being sold as a slave. Hosea must have cried out to God, “She’s thrown my love away. Why should I have to buy back what is already mine?”

Hosea was a faithful husband; Gomer was an unfaithful wife. God is the faithful lover of our souls. We are often faithless, prone to wander.

Hosea and Gomer’s story is the story of God and Israel. It is also our story. When we, like Gomer, were enslaved, God bought us back …

When we, by our very nature, threw God’s love away, He redeemed us.

God’s Unconditional Love and Act of Redemption

When Hosea bought Gomer back, when he redeemed her, he did so with 15 shekels of silver and 5 bushels of barley (Hosea 3:2). When God redeemed us, He paid the ultimate price with the blood of His Son (1 Peter 1:18, 19).

Gomer did not deserve to be redeemed. Her behavior did not merit such mercy. Israel did not deserve God’s faithful betrothal. Their unfaithfulness did not merit such mercy.

You and I do not deserve salvation. Our sin does not merit such mercy.

Why did God redeem you?

Why did Jesus pay the ultimate price for your redemption?

Why does God continue to give His unconditional love to a people who continually throw it away?

It’s not because we deserve it; it’s because His mercy demands it.

Aren’t you glad God does not treat us as our sin deserves? (Psalm 103:10) God chose you and loves you. This love story is your story. Even if you are faithless, He will remain faithful.

If you are enslaved, God will buy you back.

If you are lost, God will find you.

If you are ashamed, God will cover you.

If you wander off, God will bring you home.

If you give up on Him, God will not give up on you.

No matter where you are, God sees who you are, and He loves you.

Through the story of Hosea, God tenderly touches your arm and whispers, “Come home. My love sets you free. When you get tired of striving and wandering, I’ll be there to draw you to Myself again and remind you who you are in Christ.”

How Your Story Connects with Hosea’s

That’s the message of the whole Bible, isn’t it? At a manger in Bethlehem, God entered the slave market where all of us were putting ourselves up for auction, prostituting ourselves and our humanity to a lesser life. But on the cross, Jesus paid the full price for our freedom. He bought us back.

This is the scandal of God’s love—His loving desire to make us His people and the full persons He intended us to be.

God’s response to you is the same as it was to Israel. He will heal your faithlessness. He will love you freely. God has written on your very life the words I love you. He values you so much that He enters into covenant with you, redeems you and remains faithful to you.

May we never carelessly throw away what cost God so much. Oh, what love!

 

To consider …

Be honest: do you ever throw God’s love away? Take it for granted? Casually “dismiss the big and small ways” He cares for you?

Identify any areas where you do.

Jennifer writes that, despite his dreams for a faithful relationship, Hosea “awakened from his marriage vows to emptiness and abandonment.”

Have you ever experienced this kind of hurt and betrayal? How did you work through the pain?

How does considering this make you feel about your own times of unfaithfulness to God?

Consider God’s relationship with you.

He called you out of darkness into His glorious light.

Have you been careful with His love?

Have you been faithful in your relationship with Him?

Could God say that His desire for fellowship with you often feels like “emptiness and abandonment”?

Have you fallen in love with the world or the things of the world – things that stand in opposition to God and His plan?

Is there something you need to confess in this area?

At any given moment each one of us are either a Hosea, contending for the Lord with a pure heart, or Gomer, offering ourselves up to the very world that hates God.

Which have you been lately?