This blog is the third in a three-part series on the book of Hosea.
Hi. My name is Gomer. I’ve been such a bad wife. I have done things that I am deeply ashamed of and don’t even want to write about in this blog. I have been unfaithful on multiple occasions to my husband and have left him for other men. I thought these men cared for me, but I was wrong. The last few years have just been one huge downward spiral of sin and hurt and emptiness. My life is awful. I am helpless. I am useless. I am done! Well, at least that’s how things were until one day I got a surprise visit from my husband Hosea! He came to where I was at and instead of judging me he asked how much it would take to buy me back! I couldn’t believe it! I could barely lift my head in shame. Surely the price was too high for someone like me!? But then I saw it happen right in front of my eyes…he paid the price! I was free!
Perhaps this is what Gomer would have written if she was asked to write this blog. Hosea was obedient to God and paid the price to buy Gomer back. All Gomer has to do is go with him. But did she!? Well, unfortunately for all you romantics out there who love happy endings, you’ll have to pull out a romcom from your DVD collection and settle for that, because in this story we’re not actually told how things faired out between Hosea and Gomer! But what we are told is something more about how Hosea/God was going to try and convince Gomer/Israel to come with Him. He has already done more than we can ever imagine in paying for her, but does He now just say – “ok, I’ve done more than enough, it’s up to you now”?
To see this we need to jump back to chapter 2 of Hosea, which is primarily speaking about God’s dealing with Israel, but mirrors Hosea’s dealing with Gomer. Verse 14 starts with the word ‘therefore‘. It leaves me waiting with bated breath like a criminal awaiting his sentence. Gomer is guilty. Israel is guilty. I am guilty! Surely what follows should read …’Therefore…I left her to her own devices to wallow in her self-inflicted empty, sinful life. I’ve paid the price to set her free. If that doesn’t convince her to come running to me, then she’s on her own from here on in. I’m certainly not running after her anymore.‘
But what follows is nothing short of beauty, grace and love!
Hosea 2:14 – ‘”Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.‘
Gomer, I’m not running after you just because it’s my duty as a husband. I’m pursuing you because it’s my desire to be with you! I want to show you what a real lover is. I want to lavish every last bit of my love on you.
Gomer has allowed herself to be lured into a life of hurt and regret. But now Hosea wants to ‘allure’ her to come away from the distractions of everyone and everything else, so that He could ‘speak tenderly’ to her. Give me your attention and I’ll show you what I will give you and what I will be to you if you just let me. I’ll give you everything you need and more! You won’t need to live in fear anymore. You won’t have to do things for me to keep me from beating you and punishing you like your last master did. My love for you will be unconditional, like it’s always been. When you make a mistake, I won’t hurt you or disown you, but I will ‘betroth you to me forever’ (v19). I will replace your life of violence and hurt with safety and protection (v18b). And don’t worry about your past…I’ll sort that out (v17) and you won’t ever have to think about that again. In fact, neither of us will (Hebrews 8:12)! You will know me in the most intimate way and I will be proud to call you MINE (V20 &23)!
What a picture this is of God going the extra mile for us. What a picture of His intense love for us and His desire to have us as His own. What a picture of His promise and desire to provide for us. What a picture of His promise to protect us, to give us a life with meaning and hope. For the first 15 years of my life I was Gomer. I prostituted myself to other gods of self, religion, pride, possessions and there was nothing that I could do about it. I was enslaved! But boy am I glad that God didn’t give up on me or deal with me according to my sins (Psalm 103:10), but instead ran after me until He had my attention. Then He whispered words of grace and mercy and forgiveness into my ear and allured me to Himself. Since then I’ve still hankered after those old desires and I can still see traits of the old Gomer in me. But I know that He has bought me. I know that even when I let go of Him at times, He promises to never let go of me (John 10:29). He is faithful. He is love. He is beautiful!
