The Magic is in Showing Love Again

Hosea 3:1
The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes. ”

Hosea 3:2
So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley.

Hosea’s story is mind-boggling. Prophet Hosea begins his ministry with very strange instructions from God. God asks Hosea to marry a prostitute, Hosea 1:2. This story has been a subject of endless debate among Bible students. Some believe this is just a parable and nothing true. Others believe that what is narrated actually happened. Others find ethical issues in the story, others focus on the demonstration of divine love for erring people.

I believe the story of Hosea and his marriage is true. Hosea was a true prophet who existed and his family is known, Hosea 1:1. The prostitute Hosea married and her family is known by name, Hosea 1:3. When they have children, God tells Hosea what to name each child. If the story was a parable, all children would have received names at once, but in this case, God appears when each child is born. This practical demonstration of divine love is not strange in scripture.

The coming of Jesus was not a parable but a real event in time and space. The entire life of Jesus on earth from the miraculous birth to His wonderful teaching may seem like a fairy tale but it was real in every sense. This like Hosea’s marriage is not a parable but a very practical expression of divine love for unloveable sinners. Hosea’s story is as real as that of Jesus.

Hosea marries a prostitute. They even go ahead and have children. They live together as husband and wife. At some point, Hosea disagrees with the wife. The wife leaves Hosea. By the time we get to Hosea chapter three, Hosea’s wife is now married to another man and is carrying on her prostitution. The only way to get her back was to buy her back from the man she was now living with.

God commands Hosea in our text today to go and show his love again to his wife. Go and show your love again. Do it again. Hosea obeyed God and he went and bought his wife from another man and from prostitution.

Hosea 3:3
Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.”

What Hosea tells the wife becomes the last that we know of his marriage. It is suggestive and demonstrates that loving her again worked. God loved us and created us. We sinned against God and walked away from God. God loved us again and died for us on the cross. Loving us again did it. We are now heaven-bound believers because God loved us again!

We all experience love relationships. Love relationships can sometimes go wrong and become a source of pain. The solution is to show love again. Show love again to your estranged spouse. Don’t justify your position in the last argument, show your love again. Don’t demand answers first, show your love again.

It is amazing that when dealing with broken love, the last thing we bring to the table is love. Yet what would work best is love. We insist on summoning our former loved ones to a meeting where they are dressed down and condemned. God tells Hosea, show your love again!

Hosea could have gone and fought the other man. God tells Hosea not to focus on the other man but on his wife. Show your love again to your wife. Don’t focus on what she has done, that is in the past. Show your love again. Your focus is not on what your wife has done or can do in the future but on how you are responding. Respond by showing your love again.

When you show love again, you forgive the past. When you show love again, you give something as opposed to making demands from the other partner. When you show love again, you allow the other person freedom to accept or reject your proposal. Show your love again!

When Hosea went to show his love again for his wife, he had no guarantee of winning. God who sent him did the rest of the business of convincing the lady to live with Hosea again. In relationship matters always go with God. Do your part of showing love again and let God do His part. Show your love again!

Showing love again means there was love at first. You can’t do something again if you had not done it at first. Hosea was instructed to marry this lady. There may have been no love at the beginning but Hosea learned to love her and now he can show love again. Even if you are in a relationship that has everything you can regret, like Hosea you can learn to love. Then in case of any problem, love again!

Has your family betrayed you? Love again. Have any of your friends betrayed you? Love again. Are colleagues the source of your troubles and all love is lost and the place has become toxic? Love again. Are you tired of everything around here and all you feel like is quitting? Love again. Love your job again. Love your spouse again. Love your parents again. Love your children again. Love your relatives again. Show your love again!

Dear God, help me to show my love again, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

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