My favorite Bible story begins on page 751 of my Bible. On this page is Hosea chapter one. Now, if you don't know the story of Hosea and Gomer; you are missing out! This is one of the greatest love stories. In Hosea 1, the Lord tells Hosea to take a wife of prostitution. So, let's stop there, Hosea was a man of great faith so I can only imagine how dumbfounded he was when he was told to take a wife of such immorality. Hosea doesn't ask questions, he goes and takes a wife of this lifestyle. Gomer, the now wife of Hosea, is a woman who is known for promiscuous actions. Hosea and Gomer then have 3 children together, and she goes right back to her old lifestyle. Hosea, like anyone, has to be heartbroken and confused and angry. Hosea is left to raise their children and take care of the family that Gomer decided she did not want to be apart of anymore. The story goes on and the Lord finally tells Hosea that he must go and find her and love her again. Hosea finds her being auctioned off because she had become too old for her former lifestyle. In this time if people were being sold they would strip them of their clothes and humiliated. When I get to this part of the story all I can imagine is an older woman standing, naked, looking down, using her hair to cover her face, dirty, and scared. I imagine that she would want to cover her self as much as she could because the humiliation. So, I imagine this as any other kind of auction. The bidding starts and no one says anything, and then you hear the one person who actually wants the item speak up. She is standing there with nothing… No bidding… Just laughs and scoffs. Then from the back you hear Hosea say, “I will buy her. I will buy her even though she has done wrong to me. I will buy her even though no one else sees her worth. I will buy her even though she does not deserve it.” Going once… Twice… Sold to the man who seems to be insane for buying her. Hosea goes to collect what he has just bought and he tells her, “You must dwell as mine for many days. You shall not play the whore, or belong to another man; so will I also be to you.” Hosea 3:3

I’m sure you are wondering right about now why we are the prostitute in this story, and I am excited to tell you why. Put yourself in Gomers shoes. Stand up on that auction block, naked, looking down, using your hair to cover your face, dirty, and scared. Imagine all of the thoughts running through her mind. When I imagine that I think, “I’m not good enough for anyone to want me… I’ve hurt too many people for anyone to want me… I’ve done so many people wrong… I am not worthy of anyones love… I am not worth anything…” Then imagine hearing that little voice of hope from the back of the crowd. The one that says I will buy you. You have to think how relieved she must have been when she saw Hosea. She could have been bought by anyone, but she wasn’t. When you are going through life, and you feel like you are standing on that auction block scared, naked, dirty, and thinking you aren’t worth anything just listen. Listen for the voice in the back saying, “I will buy you. I will buy you even though you have sinned. I will buy you even though you have turned away from me and done me wrong. I will buy you because I love you. I will buy you because you are worthy. I will buy you because you are good enough.” That voice is Jesus. He is desperately trying to get your attention from the back of the crowd, but we are too busy shaming ourselves for our sins. The greatest thing is that when we sin Jesus wants us to come back to Him and let Him wrap us in His love. So, yes we are the prostitute in this story because we’re not worthy of the kind of love that Jesus gives. Like Gomer, she didn’t deserve to have Hosea love her and take her back, but because of Hoseas obedience and love for God he did as he was told.