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The Love of the Lord

by Jerry Ousley  
6/06/2009 / Christian Living


When we were first married we agreed that if either of us ever found someone we loved more, we'd immediately share it with each other first. This didn't mean that it wouldn't hurt or that we wouldn't be angry or feel cheated, but it did mean that we respected each other enough that we wouldn't be sneaking around behind the other's backs. You know what; after thirty-two years of marriage we've never had to live up to those words. We have been faithful to each other. I trust my wife with everything in me.

This isn't to say that we haven't had our share of problems over the years. You show me someone who has never had a marital problem or disagreement and I'll show you a couple who just got married yesterday (wait a minute, in this day and age I'd be safer to say earlier this afternoon).

When you love someone, for them to cheat on you hurts like pulling your arm off. It feels like part of you has been lost, and in reality it has. That other person, especially in a Christian marriage, has literally become a part of you. It hurts deeply. God told us way back in Genesis that Adam said of Eve that she was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh.

In Hosea 3 God told the prophet to do something that seems very strange to us. It seems out of character for God. But he had a good reason for doing it. God told Hosea to find a woman who was already in an adulterous relationship and take her for his wife. Think about that; Hosea, by God's direction was to find a woman who was fooling around with a married man, and take her for his wife. Talk about trust issues! It seems out of character for God to tell his prophet to do such a thing.

The point of God's instruction was that this was exactly what Israel was doing to him. He had called her out of bondage in Egypt. He had worked mighty miracles to get her to the land of promise. He had protected her, promised her wealth, honor, and a good life if only she would worship him and be obedient to his law. That seems easy enough doesn't it? But Israel could not do it. All during her history Israel would serve God for a short while then would fall into idolatry. God would let them conquer an enemy nation and they would take the false gods of that nation and begin worshipping them. That just doesn't make much sense to me. But it happened.

It came to the point that God eventually allowed Israel to be taken once again into bondage by the Babylonians for a period of seventy years. But even then God loved her so much that he brought her back home during the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. That's the love of God.

Did you know that he loves each of us just as much as that? God will allow us to sin against him, even though it breaks his heart, and when we come crawling back to him asking for forgiveness, he will forgive. He does it because he loves us.

I don't say these things to encourage you to go out and do whatever you want to do saying very nonchalantly, "It doesn't matter because God will forgive me." Talk about taking God for granted! Sometimes we do sin. Perhaps we really don't want to. Maybe we just got caught up in the moment, or temptation just seemed too great and we gave in. We don't want to be guilty of taking God for granted. But folks, he really does love us. He really will do all in his power to keep us. We serve a God who loves to a degree that our human heart cannot possibly and completely understand. The next time you're tempted to sin try to remember how much God loves you. Perhaps it will give you strength to resist that temptation. But if you don't, if you cave, don't ever fail to come back to him. That's the love of the Lord!

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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