The young preacher was on his face before the Lord. "I just don't understand, Lord," he cried. "I've preached and I've preached but they just don't listen. They reject everything I tell them. The harder I preach, the less they listen. They have turned their backs on you, the very One who loves them. They have gone astray. What can I do?"
"Hosea, my servant, we will need to show them how much I love them. Go, take Gomer as your wife. She will do to you what my children, Israel, have done to me. She will become a prostitute and it will cause you great sorrow."
Hosea did as the Lord told him to do. He took the beautiful girl, Gomer, for his wife, knowing she would cause him great pain, because he believed the word of the Lord. He obeyed.
Hosea and Gomer had three children, all named by God. Their names represented God's feelings about Israel.
Sure enough, when all the children were raised, Gomer became discontented with her life. Her husband was a traveling preacher and she was alone a lot. A lot!
She began to think about other men. Then she acted. The record in the Book of Hosea says that she "followed after her lovers."
Meanwhile, Hosea is still preaching. But his preaching has changed. He is now preaching with fierce compassion, instead of fierceness. He is feeling the sorrow that God feels for his backslidden children. He sheds tears while he preaches. Hosea preaches with understanding because he is in pain. His own heart is breaking.
When he can bear it no longer, he looks for Gomer. When he finds her, she is about to be sold at a slave auction. She looks awful and he can see that she has hit bottom. But even then, Hosea's heart skips a beat when he sees her.
Though ragged, broken and soiled, he still loves her. He wants her back. So he bids on her and wins. He takes her home and tells her, "You'll stop now being with other men. You will only be with me and I will be only with you."
Gomer never strayed again. Hosea's unconditional love touched her heart -- and in the end, saved her.
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