She was broken and used. The young woman had slept her way through life. The emotional scars remained along with the children left behind by fathers who didn't stay. Then one day she met a young pastor, and he fell in love with her. He pulled her from that squalid and self-destructive life, and he married her. He knew all about what caused the scars, and he loved her anyway. He made the children she had his own and gave them his name. They had a baby together and made a life together. She had everything.

But she was fickle and flirtatious. She had no trouble getting the attention of men. It wasn't long before she was in their beds. After all that her husband had done for her, she was unfaithful again and again. She got pregnant more than once, but the pastor wasn't the father. Though she played the whore and exchanged his love for empty pleasures, he loved her in spite of it.

Could you ever forgive someone who did that to you? Could God? Look at the story of the prophet Hosea and his unfaithful bride.

Read Hosea 1:1-9