PASTOR’S CORNER, Bailey Norris, New Beginnings Church, Liberal
Most people love a good book. We like a story that is wrapped up in a nice neat way. Everyone is happy, families working through hard situations, people who were once broken no longer feeling that way and the man and women falling in love. We as a society like a nice neat ending. We often don’t know how to handle stories that don’t end well. The book of Hosea is one that makes us uncomfortable with how it ends. While it makes us uneasy, it is ultimately a love story.
In Hosea, God commands Hosea to take Gomer as his wife.
Hosea 1:2 (NIV) 2 When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.”
The thing about Gomer is she is an unfaithful women. She was unfaithful to her husband and had a divided heart. In the midst of all of this, Hosea continued to love her. Gomer and Hosea’s relationship was a symbol for what was happening with the people of Israel. They had run from the God who had brought them to a promised land and had shown them mercy. They had an unfaithful heart and turned to the idols of the land.
How often are we like Gomer and the people of Israel? We run from what the Lord has for us. We place idols above God. Our idols may not be made of wood and stone but are things that replace the Lord. We expect the idols to bring us the things that go promises without having to submit to a lord. But the problem with idol is that they don’t deliver what they promise. I am not an exception to that rule. You are not an exception to that rule. Just because your idol of whatever looks promising and has the ability to make you content in the moment. It is not a savior and will not fulfill what you are asking it to.
Hosea 6:6 (NIV)
For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.
The same thing that Hosea was looking for in Gomer is the same thing God wanted from Israel. And in us is love true intimacy and knowledge of one another. Not a divided heart. Not a love that is just a fling or flirting with other Gods but steadfastness.
He doesn’t desire the superficial but wants the deep legitimate stead past love. He didn’t want sacrifices that were being give out of routine and half heartedly. God want the passion.
We are Gomer. Just like Hosea’s love for Gomer, God’s love for each of us is perfect and faithful when we are faithless and do not match his love. God’s love for each of us is deep. Even when we fail, he is calling us to return to his love. His response isn’t three strikes your our but one that is just calling one to return.
While, we do not get to witness the reconciliation and redemption at the end of this book. We recognize that our redemption is near. Despite our human tendencies to be like Gomer, our allowing Gods to be one sided towards us. We go from being called not loved, not my people to beloved, my child, called, and chosen.
We can mend our deceitful and half hearted love for a God who has an unfailing and redeeming love for all of us. We get to walk into to right relationship with our creator if we choose to no longer to allow our desires to be split. To be in relationship with the one who chases us down.
