God, love, and the Old Testament

They say that the depth of your pain when you lose someone shows the depth of how much you loved them.
They also say that the God of the Old Testament is not the god of love that we see in the New Testament.

Take a look at Deuteronomy 32. Listen to the language that fills the first 15 verses. "Listen, O heavens, and I will speak." Is that not a gorgeous opening to a chapter? But it continues! The poetry, the beautiful poetry continues! "Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you?" "For the Lord's portion is his people"--what satisfies the Lord's innermost desire is his people! Ah! "He shielded and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye." "He fed him with fruit of the fields. He nourished them with honey from the rock....choice rams...finest kernels of wheat...foaming blood of the grape." Is that not gorgeous??

But they (the whole thing is about Israel of course) abandoned and rejected God. "They sacrificed to demons, which are not God--gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your fathers did not fear. You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth." Can you not feel the smoldering incredulity??

"For a fire has been kindled by my wrath, one that burns to the realm of death below. It will devour the earth and its harvests and set afire the foundations of the mountains." (Aside: He sends plagues and venom and such things. But it is interesting to note vs 26--God did not scatter them or blot them out for he knew the enemy would take triumph in that.)

If such is the jealousy and pain of God that the very mountains would melt, how much greater is his love for us?

Still don't believe that the God of the Old Testament is the same god of love? Check these verses out:
"I am now going to allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her.....I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. I will betroth you in faithfulness." In an age where sports celebrities cheat on their wives and try to by her heart back with diamonds, this God speaks tenderly, and his betrothal is in righteousness and justice, not compressed carbon molecules. Now tell me: Is this a verse you hear in the New Testament? No. Ok, maybe in the Psalms, because we like those? No. It's in a little book called Hosea, you know, in the Old Testament. About halfway between the Psalms and the end of the Old Testament. Hosea is about a prostitute. A prostitute who is married but dresses up and goes chasing after her lovers. Israel, God's people, we are that prostitute. And in the middle of all her foolish and despicable behavior (Chapter 2 if you're wondering), "I am now going to allure her"?! "I will betroth you in faithfulness" even though you have not been faithful to me.

If that's not love, I don't know what is.