colormovement: For Better or Worse Read: Hosea Chapter 1; Hosea 2:14-23 The book of Hos
colormovement: For Better or Worse Read: Hosea Chapter 1; Hosea 2:14-23 The book of Hosea in the bible sets the stage for one of the most odd requests God has ever commanded of a prophet. Israel, having fallen away from God and his laws, sunk into a place of sin, despair, and fear of any retailition from God. The chasm dividing and withholding God from Israel was the immediate and final consequence of their rebellion, and it defined humanity’s relationship with Him. But in the midst of Israel’s separation from God, He speaks to Hosea and instructs him to find a wife of ill repute. One of the most honorable and God fearing men in his time, under God’s instruction, makes a wife out of a woman that no respectable man would have taken. Gomer, a woman branded for promiscuity, a lower class citizen, a woman with poor social standing, was to be the wife of a prophet. Why? This, the Lord proclaimed, was a symbol for the relationship He wanted to consecrate with Israel, and with us. God, wanting to make his actions completely known to his people, revealed the covenant Hosea was to have with this woman, so he could reveal to us that he wanted that same kind of covenant. One marked by relentless pursuit, forgiveness, and permanency. Hosea takes Gomer as his wife, and she bears his children, only to return to her former vices by abandoning Hosea to sell her body as a prostitute once more. But the Lord instructs Hosea to, “Love your wife once more even though she has taken another lover.” Hosea returns to his wife, who has now found herself chained to a life of degradation and bondage as a sex slave. Any person placed in this position could have easily chastised or berated her for her unfaithfulness and abandoned her, yet Hosea doesn’t when he had every right to. He pays Gomer’s price instead. He pays her debt, and reclaims his wife for 15 shekels of silver and several hundred pounds of barley. God then tells the prophet, that just like in Hosea’s relationship with Gomer, He desires to claim Israel (you and I) back as his bride, and himself as her husband. His desire sparks the greatest love affair in history, and it is between you and him. The most important draw away from the story of Hosea and Gomer is just how deeply Hosea’s covenant with Gomer ran, their union being a physical representation of our personal and intimate relationship with God. Hosea entered into the covenant knowing of his wife’s inadequacy, he paid her debt when she had done nothing to deserve grace, and he claimed her back even while she was in the same condition she had been when she left him. Gomer was the recipient of unwarranted grace, mercy, and her husband’s affectionate pursuit even in her darkest moments. Like Hosea, God pursues us in our moments of complete brokenness or sin to reveal the extent of his devotion and love. God’s pursuit of us is especially evident in our brokenness. Like Gomer when she was bound to sin and found herself in a dark place, the evidence of Hosea’s love was when he paid a debt she couldn’t. When we find ourselves overwhelmed with sin or have valley moments that we can’t seem to escape, God pursues us. When we feel damaged and broken, it’s his fervent love that captivates us and restores our hearts regardless if we’re deserving or not. Devotion Series: The Pursuit (#thepursuit) Text by Brianna Kae -- source link