Amazing Love

Tonight I was home by myself and I watched a movie entitled, "Amazing Love, The Story of Hosea." I saw it at the store in the cheap movie bin the other day and picked it up because the description on the back of the movie caught my attention. Sometimes that's the best time to pick up a film, just because it's cheap and it looks like it teaches a lesson.

This movie was actually a story within a story. A youth group went on a camping trip and the youth minister ended up telling the teens the Old Testament story of Hosea. This story parallelled a situation happening within the teen group, so by his expanding on the biblical story, the teens learned a valuable lesson that could be applied to today. It taught them a valuable lesson.

In a nutshell, God told Hosea to marry Gomer, who was known to be a harlot. In spite of his reluctance to trust a woman of this nature, Hosea married her out of obedience and trust in God's instructions to him. Everyone in the area knew of her reputation. At the same time, God was instructing Hosea to be his prophet (messenger) to warn the people that they must turn back to Him and turn their back on their sinful ways or they would be punished severely. They were a rich and haughty people, worshiping false gods and engaging in sinful lifestyles.

They laughed at Hosea's prophesies because they didn't believe him. They were prospering and did not believe his God was "the God" or that He would punish them since they were so rich and well off. In fact, it was the prophet himself, Hosea, who was poor, and whose own wife was the harlot, the sinful one, hurting him. They questioned why he didn't throw his own wife out and leave her. He answered them that he loved her.

He stuck with her, through her lies and deception, her cheating and falsehoods, until she was thrown out by one who was paying for her services and put in the market to be sold. Hosea himself claimed her and took her home with him to love, for he told her she was his alone to love. This was truly a lesson in unconditional love, imaging the love God had for His people who kept turning from Him. Yet, He came through with His warning and did punish the people for their sinfulness. Only Hosea had remained faithful to God.

The youth group was able to use this story as a valuable lesson in their situation, just as we all can apply it to our daily lives. The Word of God rings true for all ages. The Scriptures have all the lessons we need in order to live good and holy lives. If we focus on the Word, we are headed in the right direction. The Word feeds our mind, while the Flesh feeds our body with all we need to sustain our spiritual selves in this world of sin. God's graces flow from this. Would we have chosen to turn our backs on God, or to remain steadfast in spite of how bad everything appeared like Hosea? How much do we trust God?