Hosea and Gomer

This is a blog post I have had on my mind for a long time, but I've been hesitating to write it. I'm still working out what it actually looks like to live this, and I dont want to preach something I'm not practicing. But the thing is, it's a message that cant wait. It's something God is pressing deep in my heart, and a message that is not often spoken.

I don't know if you have ever read the story of Hosea and Gomer, found in the Book of Hosea in the Bible, but it is an incredible story. There's this guy called Hosea, a prophet, whose name means 'salvation.' He's a known and respected man. One day God says to him: 'Hosea, I want you to go and marry a prostitute.' So Hosea, being the good and faithful servant he is, does it. He finds a prostitute called Gomer and marries her. They settle down, have a few kids, live a relatively normal life, until one day, when Hosea wakes up and Gomer is gone. She's gone and left him and their kids, run away.
He is devastated, and has no idea what to do... Time passes by and she isn't coming back. God says to Hosea that he needs to go and find her. And not only find her, he needs to marry her again....

So he starts searching for her...Keep in mind - she's a prostitute. He's a well respected man whose wife has run off, and is sleeping with other men for money. He's looking in some dirty places for her, some brothels and street corners, auctions and alleyways. Finally, he finds her - being auctioned off. They're asking a price for her, so what does he do?
He pays the price. He pays for what is already his. He pays for her freedom, and then he marries her again.

What breaks my heart and holds me together all at the same time is that we are ALL Gomer. We have all sold ourselves to something other than our Husband. We've all been enslaved to things He never intended, and idolized everything except the One True God. But, we, we have a Hosea. We have salvation. We have a Husband who completes us, who pursues us into the dirtiest and darkest places and loves us all the same. We have Hosea, the One Who paid for that which was already His. and what I cant get past is this:

Now that we know we are Gomer - what is stopping us from telling the truth to a world of Gomers'?

That's the reality of this world... We're all broken. Some of us know the Truth, and some of us are at rock bottom desperately needing a LifeLine.

I dont know about you, but I dont want to wait anymore. Judah Smith recently asked a question at Hillsong conference 2013 that wrecked my life....:

Would you go after Gomer if He asked you to?

He's asking us to. He's asking me to. See, I have this bad habit of waiting for Gomer to come to me. I like to serve in Church, and write my blog posts, and help those who ask for it. I like to think that Gomer will just come to my Church and will find her salvation somewhere between the first praise song, and the last. But it's not enough to do that anymore.
Hosea didn't sit around waiting for Gomer. He pursued her.
Jesus didn't sit in Heaven waiting for us to figure out our own solution to our sin, He pursued us.  He chased us down into the worst places, and went to the darkest place for our salvation.

Waiting isn't good enough anymore.
Would you go and find Gomer if He asked? Would you go into the scary places, the hard places, the dark places and find her? Would you go and tell her of her Hosea?

Would you go and love her - because 'the penalty of sin is removed by love?'

This is a world wallowing in sin - would we go and tell them they are loved? Would we let our pursuit of them show them they are loved?

Here's the thing: Gomer doesn't need to know how bad her sins are. She needs to know how loved she is. Our job is not to tear down, it's to build up. Pursuing Gomer doesn't involve hate, it entails love. Only Love. Only Him.

I don't wanna pretend I have this all figured out because I dont. The thought of pursuing some people terrifies me, because the darkness they walk in is huge... But I am Gomer. I've walked in that darkness, and my Hosea came for me. He came in the form of other people, showing me the truth. How can Gomer find her healing if she doesn't know of the Healer? How can Gomer know she is complete if she's never heard of the One Who completes her?

I don't want to wait anymore. Love pursues.