Love Is Vulnerable

Read: Hosea 11:1-11
How can I give you up, Ephraim? . . . My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred. —Hosea 11:8

The experience of a heartbroken Christian woman (I’ll call her Mary) illustrates how love makes the lover vulnerable. Mary was a devoted wife who deeply loved her husband, but after 8 years and two children he left her for another woman. Her faith in God and her love for her children kept her going.

Today, her son is living a sinful lifestyle, and her daughter has abandoned her husband and children. Neither of them will have anything to do with their mother.

The prophet Hosea suffered a similar heartbreak because of his adulterous wife Gomer. What he experienced mirrors how God must have felt when His people turned to pagan idolatry and all the wickedness associated with it. God had been a loving husband and father to them, but they had spurned His love. Although His holy character demanded that He chasten them, He also felt deep anguish.

Centuries later, God came to earth in the person of Jesus, who endured the agony of Calvary to bear the sins of the whole world. Yet many people still reject Him.

Yes, love is vulnerable, and there are no guarantees that it will be returned! But God continues to love, and in His strength we can do the same.

Your love, O God, would spare no pain
To conquer death and win;
You sent Your only Son to die
To rescue us from sin. —Gustafson

Nothing costs as much as loving—except not loving.

by Herbert Vander Lugt

Verse of the day

I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble.

Psalm 59:16
New International Version 

THOUGHTS ABOUT TODAY'S VERSE...
So many things in our lives can be stolen away by natural disasters, aging, and death. Satan could be appropriately called "The Thief of Always." But God is immovable and unstealable! We can invest ourselves in him and know our spirits are secure in his care. He is a fortress and a refuge. 

MY PRAYER...
O Great Rock of my salvation, thank you for being unchangeable and faithful. Thank you for being the source of security and future in a day of chaos and change. Thank you for being God. You are my God and in you I place my life, my hopes, and my future. May you be glorified in me today. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.