“Guiding Light” by Foy Vance is the song my husband and I danced to at our wedding. One of the first times we hung out was at a Foy Vance concert, and his music always evokes memories of our relationship. But long before I met my husband, there were other love songs that would latch on to my emotions and take me for a ride — but I’d never been in a dating relationship before I met my husband, so how could that be?

How could “Head Over Feet” by Alanis Morissette (Don’t be alarmed if I fall head over feet. Don’t be surprised if I love you for all that you are…) or Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling in Love With You” (Take my hand, take my whole life too) mean anything to me when I wasn’t actually in love?

God designed us for love - for relational, sometimes irrational, and definitely life changing love. Whatever sense love songs made to me, even when I was young, points to how our hearts are designed to find their identity in him.

St. Augustine put it this way, “Our hearts are restless until they find rest in thee.”

But I often forget that he has been, is, and will always pursue me with his love.

Our small group is studying the book of Hosea. The book speaks of all the ways Israel (we) fail and betray and reject God. He spends verse after verse in Hosea explaining how he cannot tolerate the evil of their hearts, such as this one:

Hosea 5:4:

Their deeds do not permit them

to return to their God.

For the spirit of whoredom is within them,

and they know not the Lord.

But, Hosea is also a brutally beautiful love song. While we might expect a holy God to respond to our sin and mess with harshness, judgment, and dismissal, instead in Hosea we see a God who longs for relationship:

Hosea 6:6

For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice,

the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

He wants us to know him and to endure in relationship with him - while it might be easy to be steadfast for a moment, true love endures over time. This is what our God wants from us.

And what does he offer us? Compassion and a yearning to be with us:

Hosea 11:8b-9

My heart recoils within me;

my compassion grows warm and tender.

I will not execute my burning anger;

I will not again destroy Ephraim;

for I am God and not a man,

the Holy One in your midst,

and I will not come in wrath.

“For I am God and not a man.” How comforting is that truth? He is not a human, who will fail us or respond in anger or indifference (as I am guilty of doing to those I love). He bares his heart to us while we are betraying him. While we were still sinners Christ died for us.

This is a love song that is deep and rich and speaks to the core of who we are.

And those love songs that I might listen to in the car or while I’m cooking in the kitchen? They are deeper and richer as I understand more of the freedom God has given me to know him and love others. Despite my wandering heart, he is always quick to forgive. He is always kind to usher me back into communion with him. Relying on that foundation of love enables me to enjoy the other relationships he has put in my life - to love my husband better, to have patience with my children, to enjoy my friends and family. Like any good love song teaches us, we’re better when we’re loved well.

Let’s embrace the love that God lavishes on us and as C.S. Lewis said, delve “further up and further in” to all that he extends to us in himself.