Hosea (Letter 28, Larry Crabb’s 66 Love Letters)
Love is Deeper Than Hate
You will be irresistibly drawn to My love and able to give it to theirs when you discover in your own experience that the love I have planted in your heart can never be destroyed by rejection, betrayal criticism, or any other form of unlove you receive . True love reveals itself as the strongest of all passions when your impulse to hate those who hurt you is fully felt.
To enjoy my love and to pour it into others, you must repent. Many will say that you must first be healed of the wounds suffered at the hands of others. But requiring relief from your pain is wailing on your bed. I want you to repent, to cry from your heart, identifying how you’ve hurt Me and incited My anger, and to give up all hope of finding satisfaction for your soul from anyone other than anything but Me. Read again what I wrote and Hosea 7:13-14. Then read the first three verses of chapter 6, where My people thought they were repenting but in fact were only wailing. Then turn to chapter 14. It is there, in verses 1 through 3 that I provide a model of true repentance, for crying from your heart as you lay in the ditch of your sin. True repentance of real sin lets you experience the real joy of true love. Whatever else you hear me say or see me do in the next 11 letters, remember this: in the exact center of my infinite being, beneath all the hurt you caused me and all the anger I feel towards you lies an ocean of infinite love. I invite you to come for a swim. Every word I say is part of that invitation.
HOSEA: The Prophet and the Prostitute – From Ray Stedman<-(click here for entire Bible summary)
to be completed
HOSEA – David Jeremiah (Understanding the 66 Books of the Bible)
Key thought: Spiritual adultery occurs when we drift from our allegiance to God and allow other preoccupations to replace him as the focus of our affection.
Key Verse: I will betrothe you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in loving-kindness and mercy; I will betrothe you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord. Hosea 2:19-20
Key Action: It’s time to seek the Lord until he comes and showers His righteousness on us (see Hosea 10:12)