Recently, I saw about 10 minutes (the last 10 minutes…and, no, I don’t need to see the rest of it) of a movie called The Notebook. The movie’s tag-line: “With every great love comes a great story.” The movie is about a couple who has experienced tremendous obstacles in their relationship including poor health, a disapproving relative, and several years apart and yet their love remained incredibly strong. As I was sitting there watching I started thinking about God and the love he has shown us, and then I began to wonder if anyone in Hollywood would ever make a movie about Hosea. I mean, talk about your crazy love stories…Hosea has it all: suspense, romance, and a complicated family life.
Hosea was a man who had fallen in love with a woman who you could only call a girl “who gets around.” That is the best case scenario. The worst case understanding is that she was actually a prostitute. He falls in love with her, and God approves/condones his marriage to her. God said that he would use their marriage as a mirror, reflecting God’s relationship to his people. So Hosea marries Gomer (it MUST be love to marry a girl named Gomer…Shazzam!), and they have children together. But something changes in Gomer and she leaves Hosea seeking the comforts of other men. In other words, she starts cheating. She leaves Hosea (and her 3 children), and she runs away with another man. Why? Because, by nature, she is someone who “gets around.” Hosea did what any self-respecting man would do. He chased her. He ran after her.
He found her in slavery (sex slavery?) to another man, and through great shame and embarrassment he managed to muster what it took to buy (yes I said, buy) her back. He freed her from slavery and bought her back. Some of us might think Hosea is one of those push-overs, a guy that a woman can walk all over. But, it’s not that. He LOVES her. Even after all the cheating, the abandonment, and the embarrassment of having to purchase his own wife…he LOVES her. He loves her even when she is unlovable.
This is why the good book (the Bible) beats the Notebook hands down. It speaks of a God whose love for us is the stuff of legend. It speaks of a God who is willing to chase us, even after we have cheated on him, lied to him, and sought others besides him. Even through all of that, he chooses to love us…even when we are unlovable. He has purchased us back from our slavery so that we can know his love. This image of God doesn’t line up with the perception of God as a strict, judgmental figure. His love is overwhelming. When I read the story of Hosea, I am left wanting more. Now that is a story of great love, love that overcomes obstacles and stands the test of time.
Valentine’s Day is in the air. Send your partner a message of love. But better yet, show God that you recognize HIS love, HIS devotion, HIS unyielding faithfulness to us in the midst of our disloyalty…and read Hosea! Why? Because with every great love is a great story…
