“When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord.” Hosea 1:2

God’s love is so much more than the water down version we have grown accustomed to calling love. Dan Allender writes: “We’ve come to view love and forgiveness as little more than acting pleasantly, yielding to the will of others, and ignoring offences. But this definition doesn’t begin to approach the radically disruptive nature of genuine love as modelled by Jesus Christ.”

The world would have us believe that Christian love is merely feeling emotionally warm, or being pleasant to people when we would rather not or overlooking another’s shortcomings. But God’s love isn’t passive. God takes the initiative to pursue us even when we show little interest in him.

Such was the case in Hosea’s time. The story of Hosea is a shocking tale of love, betrayal and forgiveness. Hosea marries and is later reconciled to an adulteress prostitute. What a graphic picture, outrageous that God would ask Hosea to do such a thing yet it’s a picture of what God does for us. When the significance of this sinks into our hearts we’re overwhelmed by a God who loves like that. A God who knows our lack of commitment to Him. A God who knows we yearn for something or anything, other than him. A God who has been hurt by our attitude that says, “my relationship with you isn’t enough to satisfy me.” But a God who continues to love and pursue us anyway.