As a precocious, bright and self-reliant 4-year-old, my daughter often found the confines of our home overwhelming. She just knew there was more to life than our simple rules and routines. She wanted to see the world. As such, one day she ran away from home. She didn’t get far; really just down the street. I remember watching her through the window as she defiantly set out on her journey of no return with her little backpack filled with meager but necessary supplies: her doll, her juice cup and a small morsel to eat. (Note: we lived on a secluded street in a safe neighborhood with little traffic so I wasn’t fearful for her safety. And though I didn’t let her see me, I followed her and never allowed her out of my sight).
She made it to the end of the street before she sat down on the corner and had a hard cry. I think the realization of her impulsive decision and the prospect of her utter aloneness in a vast world had caught up to her. Something in me resisted swooping in to rescue her too soon. My heart broke as I watched her wrestle with her anger and defiance regarding the rules; this is what sent her fleeing in the first place, and the enormity of her decision to leave. It wasn’t long before she decided to turn back for home and it was then that I emerged from where I was watching over her. When she saw me, she ran into my arms in tears. I held her for a long time and assured her of my love. As we slowly walked home together, she said, “Daddy, I’m sorry I ran away. Do you still love me?”
During her flight from me, neither her defiance, rebellion, nor departure ever changed my love and concern for her. Her behavior didn’t affect my heart toward her. My love for and commitment to her never changed. Our relationship as parent and child was still in tact, perhaps even strengthened by her decision to run away. I would follow her! I would never let her go.
Such was God’s heart toward Israel when they abandoned him. He compared himself to a father who loves and provides for his child. “When Israel was a child, I loved him as a son and I called my son out of Egypt…. It was I who taught Israel how to walk, leading him along by the hand… I led Israel along with my ropes of kindness and love. I lifted the yoke from his neck and I myself stooped to feed him,” (Hosea 11:1-4). Despite God’s fatherly care for his people, “they rebelled… no matter how much He called out to them,” by running off to follow the ways of the world (v 1-2). They forgot that God had provided for and protected them. “But Israel doesn’t know or even care that it was I who took care of him,” (v 3). Though they left him and would suffer the consequences of their decisions, God’s Father heart was filled with an unceasing love. Though he was angry with them, his judgment would not completely destroy them. “No I will not punish you as much as my burning anger tells me to. I will not completely destroy Israel,” (v 9). God knew that when the people finally grew sick of their independence and entanglement with evil, and when they clearly understood through experience just how futile and destructive it was to forsake Him, they would remember God’s care and return to him again. “For someday the people will follow the LORD. I will roar like a lion, and my people will return from the west. Like a flock of birds, they will come from Egypt. Flying like doves, they will return from Assyria. And I will bring them home again,” says the LORD,” (v 10-11).
When we have run away from God and the pain and consequences of our decisions have caught up to us, we may wonder how God could still love us. But God asks, “Oh, how can I give you up…? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you…? My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows… For I am God and not a mere mortal. I am the Holy One living among you and I will not come to destroy,” (v 8-9). St. Paul describes God’s unshakeable love this way: “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels can’t, and the demons can’t. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can’t keep God’s love away. Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord,” (Romans 8:38-39 NLT).
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