Greetings guys, read this carefully and remain blessed.
To love is to show an outgoing concern for the total well-being and happiness of an individual. It is to provide adequately for his or her spiritual, moral and material needs. For example, in the home, parents show their love when they inculcate into their children the right attitudes and values of life through sound religious education and moral instruction backed by good example; provide them with good education and teach them to be self reliant, contented and hardworking, and to behave as responsible Christian citizens. It is also to cater for their feeding and clothing. And the children are meant to return their patents' love by being obedient, truthful and hardworking. Children who refuses to be obedient truthful and hardworking are being ungrateful to their parents and this must be avoided since it is not a show of parental love.
Divine love is like parental love, but it goes deeper. Divine love is the outgoing concern which God shows in providing for the spiritual, moral and material needs of men. God provides there's things, out of pure love for human beings. Divine love doesn't refuse to care for the needs of the people because they do not do His will. Divine love punishes the people in order to discipline them and bring them back to the paths of righteousness. God yearns for the people to return divine love in their acts of justice, kindness and mercy. Thus, divine love is steadfast love. It is a love that never let go. It is constant, reliable and dependable. In Jewish language, this type of love is called HESED. It is a covenant love. It is a committee ld love which God has for mankind in view of the convenant relationship between God and man, beginning with the covenant with Abraham and the whole of Israel on Mount Sinai.
In the Bible, divine love is demonstrated in the marriage relationship between the prophet Hosea and his faithless wife. Hosea continued to live an unfaithful wife to show the depth of God's love for unfaithful Israel. God loves Israel and provides for her, inspite of her unfaithfulness. The story is told to make us aware of the unyielding live that God has for man and the need for man to return that love in acts of faithfulness, justice, mercy and righteousness.
THE LOVE OF GOD
God's continual love for unfaithful Israel is demonstrated in the book of Hosea, by the prophet's own marriage tragedy. His continual love for a woman who proved consistently unfaithful was the basis of his message of God's love for Israel.
On the instructions of God, Hosea married Gomer and had three children who were all given symbolic names: Jezreel, Not pitied and Not my people. At the beginning of their marriage, there was love between the husband and the wife. Gomer was faithful to Hosea and Hosea loved her. But later, Gomer became unfaithful by going after other men. She used to say: " I will go after my lovers, who give me bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink."
Inspite of her faithfulness, Hoses continued to live his wife. He did not divorce her. He demonstrated his live by asking his children to plead with their mother to stop harlotry. Hosea displayed an act of clemency by buying his wife from the salve market. Hosea warned Gomer that he would discipline her, if she persisted in her adulterous ways. However, if she stopped her waywardness and reformed, Hosea promised to restore her to her former glory as his beloved wife.
From his personal life experience, Hosea gained a deep insight into God's love for Israel and therefore of His love for mankind. Hosea perceived that the convenant relationship between God and Israel was like a marriage convenant. His wife, Gomer typified the unfaithful and wayward Israel. By her unfaithfulness in worshipping other gods, Israel had broken the convenant relationship with God. However, God continued to live Israel inspite of her unfaithfulness, in the same way that Hosea continued to love Gomer. God was going to punish Israel in order to instill some discipline into her. Israel was no longer under God's mercy. Israel was to be rejected by God. This is seen in the symbolic names given to Hosea's children. The first born Jezreel, means that God was going to punish the house of Jehu, who sinned by killing the king of Israel and Judah and also punish the whole of Israel. The second child: Not pitied showed that God would no longer have mercy on Israel. The third: Not my people means that God has rejected Israel as a convenant people.
Though Israel deserved to be utterly rejected by God on account of her unfaithfulness, God still yearned with live to redeem her. It was this steadfast love, which would never let go; this steadfast love (HESED) that has the elements of constancy, reliability and dependability, which Hosea experienced in his marriage situation, that God revealed his true nature as a God of mercy to Hosea and therefore to the whole of Israel and mankind. The prophet typified the merciful and loving God who was ready to forgive. But in the same way that Gomer must repent and be restored to her former glory, so Israel must turn on a new leaf and practice justice, mercy and righteousness to ensure her full restoration.
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF GOD'S LOVE
Divine love is steadfast love. It is the live that will never let go. It has added qualities of being constant, reliable and dependable. The lesson for us Christians is that we are to reciprocate Gods love by being faithful to Him in worshipping Him only and by practicing justice, mercy and righteousness in our relationship with our fellow human beings.
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. See you in my next article.
We really need to reciprocate God's love especially in this season.