Love really does redeem.

One of my favorite books is Francine Rivers "Redeeming Love". If you haven't read it, I highly recommend it. It is a historical fiction novel based on the book of Hosea. Yesterday as I was flipping through my bible, I decided to read the book of Hosea through it's entirety. I read chapter 1. Hosea 1:2 reads: When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, "Go, take to yourself an adulteress wife and children of unfaithfulness, because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery departing from the Lord." I was struggling to figure out why God would have asked His prophet Hosea to marry an adulterous woman. I know the obvious answer is because "the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord." I read the commentary in search of better understanding. It talks about the feelings Hosea may have had when asked to do this. Of course, it focused on Hosea's steadfast faith that he would be willing to obey God knowing the hardship that it would bring. But thrown into the last sentence of the commentary was a question that I haven't been able to get out of my mind...It says, "Will you be able to accept the fact that the pain involved in obedience may benefit those you serve, and not you personally?"

Wow.

I reread it many times and I was quickly convicted of how often I choose whether or not to obey by the way it would make me "feel". Of course Hosea was benefited by his decision to be obedient to God. But, he lived out some real-life major consequences. He walked into a situation knowing that it was going to be a long, difficult road being called to love a woman who would betray him. He would have to seek her out and bring her back. He may even be called to pull her from another man's bed and then take her to his home and love her unconditionally. That's a hard road if I've ever seen one. That requires some big-time faith in your God.

I can't wait to explore this story as it unfolds. I am always humbled by the human illustrations that God provides in His word to reveal His never-ending, unconditional love.