Hosea & Gomer

I received my morning devotion telling of Hosea & Gomer.

Then the LORD said to me, "Go again, love a woman who is loved by a lover and is committing adultery, just like the love of the LORD for the children of Israel, who look to other gods and love the raisin cakes of the pagans." (Hosea 3:1)

No human can comprehend God's love for His children! Our limited experience of human love hinders us from understanding God's unconditional love for us. We can see a picture of this love in the life of Hosea.

Hosea was a righteous man, but God told him to marry a sinful woman. Hosea obeyed and took Gomer as his wife. He cherished her and treated her with dignity and respect. Never before had Gomer experienced this kind of love, but she soon grew dissatisfied. She began giving her affections to other men. She became so involved in adulterous pursuits that finally she abandoned Hosea altogether. Other men used her until she had nothing left to give. Then they sold her into slavery. After this, God gave Hosea an amazing command: "Go and buy her back." Despite the intense pain and hurt that Gomer had inflicted on him, God told Hosea to forgive her and to pay any price to bring her back into his home.

God's message is clear: When we reject Him and turn our devotion elsewhere, our rejection carries the same pain as an adulterous betrayal. After all God has done for us, it is incomprehensible that we should reject Him. It is even harder to fathom that God could love us even after we have rejected, ignored, and disobeyed Him. Yet God's love is completely different from ours. His love follows us to the depths of our sinfulness until He has reclaimed us. His love is undaunted when we run from Him, and He continues to pursue us. What incredible love He has demonstrated to us!

Clearly, Gomer was as the children of Israel in their rebellion and rejection of the Lord and His love toward them.

What is it in sin that causes one to bite the hand that feeds them, so to speak? Absolute deprivation? A form of mental retardation? An addiction?

If I was down and out I'd appreciate anything and everything anyone did for me. It's hard for me to fathom.

 

I do appreciate both of your comments.

Perhaps where I was going with this thread was that it is a "shame" that people go off in the wrong direction. My father used to say all the time, "You can tell kids but you can't tell 'em much". How true!

Yes, sin is the reason folks turn from the Lord as they simply can't see. I wonder why they can't see? Well, I couldn't see myself until that morning I woke up and something was just different in my life. For three days I was absolutely beside myself.

After work on the third day I went home literally unable to even stand or sit still. There was a young guy across the street who introduced himself as a preacher who had offered to help us move in six months earlier. I remembered him as being a preacher but that was it. For all I knew he could have been a Jehovah Witness Preacher.

So, I grabbed the only Bible we had and across the street I went. Banged on his door right at supper time and holding out that Bible and declared, "I want you to explain this to me". Now why did I even take the Bible to begin with? Why didn't I take the phone book? Or a dictionary? Well, the Lord was dealing with me and I didn't even realize it.

It's a shame that so many resist that conviction. To each is different I suppose. Hey, feed a stray cat and it's yours for the rest of it's life. People should learn from nature.

 

He kind of grinned a bit and asked if I would give him about five minutes and he'd be over to my place. I said certainly. Within about two minutes he knocked on my door and it wasn't long before he took us down the Roman Road and my wife and I both accepted the Lord as our savior.

After this, he began to laugh and tell me that I caught him completely off guard when I held out the bible asking that he explain it to me. With hind-sight, I must have been a sight to behold..., but the Lord was moving me.