Hosea is a rich book of the Bible. I could reread this everyday and find something new that speaks to me. It's probably my favorite book of the entire Bible, but definitely of the Old Testament.
Here is the Sparknotes version of Hosea (Go read it though): God calls Hosea to marry a woman of whoredom, and Hosea obeys. He marries a woman, knowing she will not be faithful to him and she will not really love him the way he loves her. Wow, sounds like either a heartbreaking story or a great lifetime movie. But Hosea still chooses Gomer. He still returns. He still loves her. He doesn’t throw a fit. He is patient and loving. It's a story of back and forth on Gomer's part and consistent pursuing on Hosea's part. Ultimately, it is a story about you and I. It's a story about our life of whoredom and God's faithfulness to love us.
Let's clarify what I mean when I saw a life of whoredom really fast, because that's a harsh term to just be thrown into the conversation. When I say this, I'm referring to our choices. Our actions. Are we pursuing the Lord or are we pursuing the world? In pursuing the world, we're playing the whore. You may not like that term, but we're sticking to it. In Hosea 2:7, Gomer is described as "pursuing her lovers" (ESV).
I found this quote, and I wish I knew where it came from, but this should wreck your heart:
“Before we can condemn Gomer, we need to view ourselves as unfaithful brides to our Groom.”
We choose our worldly lovers whenever we choose sin. We choose to play the role of the harlot whenever we leave God on the sidelines and chase something else. We make the choice to play the whore of the story.
Ouch, right? The story doesn't end there, though.
Even as we choose sin, the Lord chooses us.
Read that again, just in case it didn't sink in. He chooses you.
In the book of Hosea, Hosea doesn't give up on Gomer. She runs back and forth between him and others. Hosea 2:8 describes that Hosea was the one who gave her what she needed, and she still ran to and from. That's us. We serve a God who provides exactly what we need. He is provider. He is faithful. He fills us. Yet we run to and from sin, just as Gomer did.
We will live in sin every day. We will run faster. We will pursue heartbreak. But we are pursued by a joyful Groom who doesn’t give up on us. His anger burns over our unfaithfulness, but His love and forgiveness is greater.
We cannot truly rejoice in the fullness of the redemptive love of Christ if we don’t acknowledge how lost we are. And we are really lost. But luckily, our Love is waiting for our return. Just as Hosea. He waits.
In the end of Hosea, the Lord redeems Israel.
"Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity." Hosea 14:1
"I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them." Hosea 14:4
As you read the beginning of this article, you may have felt the ache of your own sin. You realized that the title of this article was you. You play the whore of the story. Here are two realizations I hope you also had: Everyone plays the whore because of our sinful nature and in the end, you get to play the redeemed.
The cross changed our role. The cross paid our debt. The cross changes everything.
Will we still choose sin? Yes. We're human and we mess up. But did you read that last line before? The cross changes everything. There is redemption in the end of the story for Israel and Gomer, and there is redemption in the end of the story for you and me.
"But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:5
Friends, there's redemption. Allow the Lord to love you fully. Allow the Lord to speak tenderly to you (Hosea 2:14). Allow the Lord to transform your role, your life, your story. Allow yourself to be redeemed.
It's time to throw off the costume of the whore and be the princess of the story.
