I’m currently studying the book of Hosea.  At the time Hosea prophesizes the people of Israel are deep in spiritual idolatry.   Many of the chapters list the grievances of God against His people.  They are worshiping false gods; even giving them credit for what God had done for them.  Their idol worship includes temple prostitutes (male and female) and putting their children through sacrificial fires.  The priests have perverted the covenant of God and are becoming wealthy on the sins of the people which they encourage.  The kings all do evil in the sight of the Lord and lead Israel into sin, provoking the anger of God against them.

The Lord God is holy and does not wink at sin and He does judge the people of Israel by allowing an Assyrian king to lead them into captivity.   Yet, chapter 11 of Hosea contains a list of statements from the Lord; statements that show the heart of God towards His people.  “How can I give you up”, He asks?  “How can I surrender you?”  “My heart is turned over within Me”.

When you are reading the list of wrongs He holds against Israel, you might conjecture that He is through with them; that He has given up on them.  You might even conclude that He no longer loves them, but these thoughts are not only wrong, they imply that the Israelites performance gauges whether God loves them or not.

Eugene Peterson says the same thoughts plague Christians today.  As believers, we often feel that when illness comes, or hardships, or conflicts and anxieties, or repeated sinful patterns creep into our lives, “that God has gotten bored in looking after us and has shifted his attention to a more exciting Christian, or that God has become disgusted with our meandering obedience and decided to let us fend for ourselves for awhile, or that God has gotten too busy fulfilling prophecy in the Middle East to take time now to sort out the complicated mess we have gotten ourselves into”. This is a mistake for it assumes that God’s love fluctuates depending on how we perform.  It supposes that “God’s interest in us waxes and wanes in response to our spiritual temperature.”

God doesn’t just show love, He is love!  God does not act contrary to His character and thus love is who He is and does not alter or diminish.  It is unchanging!  We, however, feel loved or not loved according to our circumstances or behavior.  So if you are in a pattern of sin and disobedience, or so busy running your own life that you feel distant from the Lord, the remedy is given.  In Hosea the Lord tells His people through the prophet to acknowledge their guilt and return to the Lord with their whole heart.  If you are going through an illness, trial or hardship and are doubting the Lord’s love for you, then confess that doubt and cling to the promises in Psalm 121.  “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.  He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber.” If He will not let your foot slip, it implies the road you are treading is treacherous and the possibility of falling is there.  Yet, those who lift up their eyes to the mountains, from whence their help comes will not slip.  It does not mean that there will not be hardship, but that God will keep you through it and He is never off duty (He does not slumber).

So, this Valentines I pray that the Holy Spirit gives you true appreciation of the love of God and that if you are straying or doubting His love, that you would turn and run into His embrace and be smothered in the unending, all consuming, and ever sheltering love of God.

As God pleases, dispose the day © 2009 is an electronic devotional by D. A.  Brewer.   All Bible quotations are from the New American Standard Version, © 1993 Lockman Foundation and used by permission.  The title “As God pleases, dispose the day” is a quote from Henry V by William Shakespeare.   Quotes are taken from A Long Obedience in the Same Direction by Eugene Peterson.