Hot Pursuit

 "The Lord said to me again, "Go love a woman who is an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the people of Israel, though they turn to other gods...So I bought her" (Hosea 3:1-2a)


I was watching the news last night before going to bed when they ran one of those "have you seen..." segments.  Do you know the ones I am talking about?  They feature the top four or five criminals believed to be in the viewing area and ask if anyone has seen them.  They give you a profile of the person, what they have been accused of and a hotline number.  They ask that you use the number should you have any information or know the whereabouts of the suspects.

This particular segment was done in conjunction with the US Marshall service.  I was impressed by the demeanor of the Deputy Marshall.  He spoke with great confidence that the suspects would be caught.  At no time did he give the impression they would stop looking for the suspects.  They would be pursued no matter where they went.

I think Hosea would have made a great Marshall.  At the very least he displays the same dogged determination to pursue someone until they had been caught.  No matter how many times they ran, Hosea went after them.

Are you familiar with the story of Hosea? He's one of the minor prophets in the Bible. When we say minor prophets we don't mean minor in importance, but simply in length of their writing. What Hosea writes is just as :major" as the bigger books written by the prophets. Although it might be better to say what Hosea lived was just as important.

Funny thing about being a prophet in Israel and Judah. Very often God didn't just give you a message to share with people. He asked you to live it out.  A prophet's life became a living visual aid to the message God had for His people.

And so it is with Hosea. God asks him to love and marry a woman who will be unfaithful to him.  I want you to catch the three parts of that statement.  She will be unfaithful.  You are to marry her. In other words while she will not be faithful to you, you are to be faithful and make a covenant with her. And Hosea was to love her.  Can you imagine? God doesn't ask Hosea to go through the motions but actually love this woman, who has the unfortunate name of Gomer.

And Hosea does. And Gomer is unfaithful time and time again and Hosea has to go looking for her. She leaves him with the children. Finally Gomer becomes so destitute and caught up in the wrong crowd, used and abused, she is sold into slavery.

And it is then something mind boggling happens. God tells Hosea to go get her. And he does. Hosea finds his wife. He pays for her, pays for the one to whom he had given his love, buys her back, and restores her not as a slave, which would have been his right, but as his wife. Let's see Nicholas Sparks write a sorry that beats that.

Hosea's story isn't just about his relationship with Gomer. It was to illustrate God's relationship with Israel. But it also illustrates our relationship with God, doesn't it? This is our story. We are all Gomer's when you get down to it.  God has made a covenant with us, loved us more than we can fathom. But time and time again we are unfaithful. We look to other gods to make sense of our world and make us happy. Oh, we apologize and say it will never happen again, all the time making our plans for the next thing coming down the road.

But when we are sold into slavery to sin, Jesus buys us back. He paid the price for us on the cross and set us free. Not to make us slaves but to reestablish us as His beloved.  How passionately God loves us. How relentless He is in His pursuit of us.

Have you been running from God? Do you feel as if you've used up your chances and God has turned His back on you?  He hasn't.  He also hasn't stopped pursuing those you love who don't know Jesus. So keep praying for them. The story of Hosea, the cross, and the empty grave tell us that God will never stop pursuing you. He loves you and wants to restore you. So let Him. Allow yourself to be caught again by His love. Allow Jesus to set you free.

In Christ,
Dr. Brian Jones <><