Like a teenager, God has been madly in love with us since the very beginning. Love never considers the consequences. Tender. Wasteful. This lavish love touches me especially in two passages in the prophet Hosea. Through the prophet God compares us to a spouse: "I will betroth you to myself forever, betroth you with integrity and justice, with faithful love and tenderness. I will betroth you to myself with loyalty, and you will come to know your God." (2:21-22) Chapter 11 begins: "When Israel was a child I loved him." God is a parent leaning down and taking a child's arms to teach them to walk, "leading them with human ties, with leading-strings of love. I was like someone who lifts an infant close against his cheek; stooping down to him I gave him his food." (3-4)
This is the first instance in the Old Testament of the theme of God's love as cause of his choosing Iraael. Jesus will show us over and over that God's love is not earned. It is simply that God is Love that flows over all that God has made, transforming us into lovers.
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