“When Israel was a youth I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.” (Hosea 11:1)
This passage is Messianic in its reference to Jesus’ flight to Egypt found in Matthew 2:15 and it is also the beginning of one of the most heart-rending appeals of love God will make to Israel in all the Old Testament. If you stop and read Hosea 11:1-8 in its entirety, you will see that it tore God’s heart out to see Israel as a nation turn to idolatry and wickedness.
God doesn’t just hate evil, He hates seeing what evil does to us. He was distraught over the sin of the people and what had happened to their lives, their children, and the future they would now face because of it.
God’s willingness to accept our freewill costs Him because He is forced to watch those He loves suffer alone. It would be so easy for Him to intervene, but then we would not be free. So He suffers as He watches us struggle. This is a pain that perhaps only parents of wayward children can begin to appreciate – it is absolutely gutting. He suffers for our sins… seems to me that is a pretty consistent theme throughout the Scriptures.
Matthew 4:4 #Biblebites