"Hard" Things

Wk 34 Day 6

Hosea 3:1 (NLT)
¹ Then the Lord said to me, “Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them.”

How hard would it have been for Hosea to love his wife back who was a prostitute and an adulteress? I cannot swallow this idea if I was in that position. Yet, there are few things that I saw:

// Hosea
.. loved his wife back against all the odds
.. why? in obedience to God; God told him so regardless his feelings and "what if's"
.. it was a risk that he took; who knows what his wife would've done after taking her back again and just broke Hosea's heart again


// God
.. must've have taught Hosea what unconditional love means
.. loved the Israelites in spite of their disobedience
.. flows and shows unfailing love


// Belle
.. there will be times when God will tell me to do something "risky" such as giving up what I feel and doing what His will [it's only a risk in the eyes of man]
.. God is showing me what it means to truly love - that in spite of the wrongdoings a person may do or have done to me, I must show them love and mercy just as God has shown that to me; to forgive them


:: God, you know how hard this is to do without You. I pray that you will empower me and strengthen me to look beyond the surface and to go beyond why you call me to do such hard things. I entrust everything to You and I pray that you will continue to guide me in times when I think I cannot do it. But I know that with You, I can. Thank You! In Jesus' name, amen.