When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
But the more they were called, the more they went away from me.
Hosea 11:1-2 NIV
An excerpt from the Holman Commentary:
"It's a baby boy!" I will never forget the doctor's words or the feeling they brought. God had blessed us with a healthy child. Mother and baby were fine. I could hold the little life in my hands. In so many ways that life lay there for me to mold. Was I up to the task? How would I respond to this child? When the child did not act exactly as I desired, how would react?
Now, all these years later, experience has shown me that I had reason to ask those questions. Many times I have stood asking myself and my God, What should I do in this situation? Such experiences with my children have helped me understand God better because he, too, has children who cause him to ask, "How can I give you up?" Hosea pictures the inward struggles of God as He replays the story of His people and struggles with His emotional attachment to them. Their sins anger Him and lead Him to feelings of anguish, but His love conquers all.
This passage spoke to me as a father and as a son.
How often our children exasperate their parents? and yet, as parents, we continue to love our children, hoping for the best out of them, encouraging them . . .
How often we must exasperate God? and yet God continues to love us, hoping for the best out of us, encouraging us . . .
Hosea is a story for us to find encouragement and hope.
God loves us and with that love comes discipline and a promise for a better tomorrow.
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