This story is almost like an ancient soap opera. It might be As Israel Turns or Days of Hebrew Lives. Hosea is the guy everybody likes, but he married the sneaky girl with the shifty eyes. Gomer (OK, no Soap Opera would have a hot chick named Gomer, but go with me) seems to flirt with everyone, and secretly begins meeting with Eduardo (this is a fictional name), the hot Italian guy who has ties with the mafia. Hosea begins to feel like something is going on, but when he confronts Gomer, she denies it. The secret meetings and hot romance between Gomer and Eduardo goes on for a while on the show, and then one day Gomer disappears. Hosea searches for her, and even hires a private eye to find her, but they can’t figure out where she went. But the reason she can’t be found is that Eduardo blackmailed her and kidnapped Gomer, and put her on the streets so she could turn tricks as a hooker. Gomer began to live the life of a slave on the streets to a pimp, who used her. Eduardo eventually ditches her altogether, selling her to another pimp, who now owned her and used her.
Finally, the private eye gets a tip and finds out where Gomer is living and the life she is leading. Hosea tracks her down, finds her in a short little skirt, midriff and high heels on a street corner. When she sees him, Gomer is ashamed and won’t even look in his eyes. Since she is now living in slavery, Hosea can’t just take her. He has to write a big honkin’ check to her pimp to buy her out of slavery and take her home (so in the real story, Hosea actually pays the guy off with some money, and some food). Hosea does the unthinkable, he writes the check, forgives her, and takes her home to be his wife and allows her to come back to her position as mother to their children.
Does this story weird you out? It should! Why would Hosea go through all this trouble to buy Gomer out of slavery and take her home when she is a dirty, vile woman whose betrayal led to her downfall? Because this is exactly what God had done for Hosea, and for you and me! As you try to identify with someone in the story, realize, we are Gomer. We serve other Gods, and betray God, but God still loves us. We made our own bed filled with wickedness, but God still loved us, and searched for us. God came himself and paid an unbelievable price to pay for our release from the spiritual pimp, Satan, and to deliver us from the sin which enslaves. Then he took us home, cleaned us up, forgave us, and returned us to His family.
The question we ought to be asking is this, “Why would God go to all this trouble to buy me out of slavery and take me home when I am a dirty, vile person whose betrayal led to my downfall?