The Abdication of the King

He had it all: power, wealth, prestige, and respect. He could have chosen any woman in the world, but the woman who stole his heart was the one he couldn't have. It has the makings of a Hallmark movie, but any Anglophile knows it's a true story.

Edward VIII abdicated his throne and gave up the life he knew. For Wallis Simpson.

Bessie Wallis Warfield was born June 19, 1896, in Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Baltimore. A socialite with wealthy relatives, she married a naval officer, Win Spencer. They married in 1916 and divorced in 1927. A year later, she married Earnest Simpson, a partner in a shipping company.

We know her as Wallis Simpson, the American divorcee who wanted to marry a king. Their love story flipped the world on its head.

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There's another woman infamous for her many husbands. We know her as the Samaritan woman. When she met Jesus at the well, she had many strikes against her: five husbands, and "the one you have now is not your husband," and the fact that she was a woman in a society that didn't necessarily value women, and a Samaritan talking to a Jewish man (Jesus).

Her society told her she should bow her head to this man, and not speak, and submit herself to him. She must have thought he was crazy when he spoke to her. And then, in shock perhaps, she met his gaze and answered him.

Jesus's disciples returned from town, and they certainly thought he had lost his mind. That day Jesus changed the life of the woman at the well.

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There's another woman with a checkered past, a past filled with many men and much shame. Her name was Gomer, and God told a man of God to marry her.

Hosea's family, friends, and neighbors must have thought he'd gone stark raving mad. Marry a prostitute?! Have children with her? Watch her abandon her family to resume her evil ways and then buy her back from slavery? Hodea did it, though, for Gomer.

Hosea and Gomer's story is Israel's story, and ours. Israel sinned against God, and so do we. God said, though, "How can I give you up, O Ephraim? How can I surrender you, O Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I treat you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned over within Me, All My compassions are kindled." (Hosea 11:8)

And God promised and He kept His promise when He sent His Son Jesus.

Jesus: fully God and fully man. He had glory and power and all of earth at His feet. He gave it up for a time, for the bride He loved.

The love of God flips the world on its head. It chooses the one society ignores It chases the ones who run away.

He had it all: power, wealth, prestige, and respect. He could have chosen any woman in the world, but the woman who stole His heart was the one He wouldn't live without. He'd give it all up for her.

For you.