Devotions in Hosea #2
"Love the Unlovable"
by Stephen Moore
“Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”
Hosea 3:1 (NIV)
There are people that we get on well with and enjoy being around whereas there are others that we don’t quite click with and prefer to avoid. It is natural for us to enjoy being with some and not with others as we will have similar interests, humour, experiences etc. with some but not with others. There are however people that we find completely unlovable and due to various reasons we even find ourselves fighting against strong feelings of dislike, bitterness and revenge.
It could be the arrogant power hungry boss at work, the bullying kids at school, the friend that betrayed your trust, or even the cheating husband. These types of people can be difficult to love yet Hosea had an unfaithful wife who was loved by another man and the Lord commanded Hosea, “Go, show your love to your wife again.” We all struggle to love the unlovable but the Lord commands us to do exactly that.
Hosea no doubt struggled with the Lord’s command but his difficulty was compounded by the Lord’s additional condition to, “love her as the Lord loves the Israelites.” What a challenge to love the way the Lord who is love, loves. Throughout Israel’s history we discover the love, the patience, the care, the guidance, and the goodness that the Lord demonstrated to them even though the Israelites complained to the Lord, and were unfaithful to the Lord by worshipping false gods.
Sometimes we struggle to love the unlovable and forget that we too in our sinful condition before a holy God are also unlovable yet Paul reminds us that, “God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” We have all been the recipients of God’s love so in the light of His love for us, let us love the unlovable.
Further Reading: Hosea 3; Matthew 5:44-48; Luke 23:32-34; Acts 7:54-60.