(cf. Hosea 1, 2 and 11) God’s love for His children is so strong and intense that it pains Him whenever we run away from Him. His kind of love is a love that will never go. It’s a love that at the midst of all of our faults He still loves us and cares for us, and He demonstrated this in that while we were yet sinners, He sent His Son to die for us (cf. Rom. 5:8). Did you know that the wandering period of Israel even though that was a judgement period for their unbelief, as the Jews looked back to the exodus and wilderness wandering, they called that the honeymoon between Yahweh and Israel. God was never as so close as during that time. It’s not by accident that in Ephesian chapter 5, Paul is trying somehow to communicate to us the intimacy and beauty between Jesus and the church, and the Scriptures call Jesus as the Bridegroom and the church the bride. Human beings understand something of the emotions and passion and depths of feeling that has to do with sexual love. And the Bible doesn’t think that is inappropriate. That kind of intensity, that kind of commitment characterizes the love between God and His people. I think that shocks us. That takes us aback a bit. And yet, that is so, so true.
Yes, God is also a righteous God, but He is more of a God of love than a God of justice. He is a moral God. He has a settled judgement against sin, but while His judgement runs through the 3rd and 4th generations of them that hate Him, His love and grace span across thousands of generations of them that love Him (cf. Exo. 20:6). Remember, it doesn’t matter how many steps we’ve taken in running away from Him; it would only take only one step for us to return to Him. He wants to talk to us, He wants to fellowship with us, He has forgiven us. He loves us!
Lorenzo Palon 