Undying Love

1 John 4:7   Valentines creations :) 

While the origin of Valentines day is murky and indefinite, what is celebrated on this occasion in our current times is not.  Valentines is all about love, gifts, and romance.



And so is our Savior.

The Bible has many romantic stories but the one that represents romance and unconditional love in my book, is Hosea.

God came to Hosea and said, "Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms (a prostitute) and children of whoredomes; for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the Lord."

I can hear Hosea's thoughts right now, "What!?  You want me to marry a prostitute!?  Is that even Biblical!? All because Your people 'committed great whoredom'?"  

But it says, "So he (Hosea) went and took Gomer, (the prostitute) and bare him a son."  *It's like a Maury Povich DNA show!

So she goes on to bare 3 total children that God asks them be given specific names because he is going to use this relationship as an example for God's people.

Gomer continues to chase these lovers while married to Hosea who possibly fathered her children.  Gomer thinks that these lovers provided food, money, and shelter for her.  But God makes it clear that He provided these gifts for her.  And He's going to prove it to her by taking it all away.

*So here Gomer is...a cheater, had a babies by other men, took off and left with other men for money;  And Hosea is supposed to pursue her?!!  How many of us would pursue a spouse doing this?  But God's response is shockingly different than ours.

"Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.  And she shall follow after her lovers, but she shall not overtake them; and she shall seek them, but shall not find them. Then she shall say 'I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now."  I believe the modern heathen term for this is 'cock blocking'!

God's name is Jealous Exodus 34:14.

God says He will make it to where she will look for her lovers but not find them.  He wants her to come back and he will stop at nothing to make that happen. All the while, He is comparing Gomer with us.  How we've forsaken Him and run off after our own desires, forgetting Him.

Ah, but here's the romantic part. Despite all the heartache and nonsense we've (Gomer and us) have created; God says, "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence....and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth...And it shall be in that day," saith the Lord," that thou shalt call me 'My Husband'; and shall call me no more 'My Master'.

Wow.  God's passion burns so deep for us.

He goes on to say how He will make us forget our other lovers, He will be our night and shining armor who swoops us away and whispers to us in the most desolate places of our lives.  And the Lord says, "I will betroth you unto me for ever; yea. I will betroth thee unto me..."
  

Just like Gomer was unworthy of Hosea's love, so are we unworthy of God's love.  But God doesn't give up the pursuit no matter how unworthy we are.

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His son for the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another." 1 John 4:10-11



So that was our Valentines Day story!  Speaking of love, here's one of my valentine's:

We shared valentines day cards, cupcakes, and pizza's with our Homeschool group for Valentines Day! 

Katie and I made these pen bouquets for some friends for Valentines Day :)