“When Israel was a child I loved him, and I called my son out of Egypt. But the more I called, the further they went away from me; they offered sacrifice to Baal and burnt incense to idols” (Hos 11:1-2).
This is the drama that our Father experiences so often. It runs through the whole of human history, and it is particularly painful when it is the people of Israel who are the protagonists. The verses that follow this passage from the Prophet Hosea show us how tenderly God calls His own and how He is always ready to forgive them. But it is with sorrow that He has to note that the more He calls them and shows them His love, the more His people turn away from Him and offend Him with their aberrations.
But is this a reason for God to give up? From our human way of thinking, would we not advise Him to stop calling them and simply wait for the people to return to Him on their own?
One might think so… But God is not like that! He cannot and will not withhold His love from saving people. Could He stand by and watch while people fall into the abyss? Only He can save them, if they just take a step towards Him and respond to His love.
Sometimes we too can experience something of what our Father suffers… Perhaps our efforts to make God known to people seem to be in vain, or are even rejected. Should we give up because of that? No!
However, we are not God and therefore we are not the ones who save people. We have neither the abilities nor the possibilities to touch hearts as God can. But we have an effective way at our disposal! It is prayer, through which we can fight for those who turn away from God instead of drawing closer to Him.
We may not have access to their hearts. But the door of prayer is always open to us. In this way, we can become like our Father, who never gives up and never stops loving us. In prayer we can imitate His love that seeks to conquer man. We can knock again and again at the door, and constantly plead that people may be converted and not lost forever. We can render them this service of love, even if they never know that we did it.
Let us not be discouraged when we see no progress and everything seems to get even worse. This is precisely the suffering of our Father, as expressed through the Prophet Hosea. Let us not give up! Rather, let us resemble the Father in this perseverance and so comfort His Heart.