06/12/2020
The Story of God's Grace and Mercy in The Book of Hosea
Hosea pursued Gomer.
The love story locked in the pages of the book of Hosea is one that can leave the reader with mixed emotions, but it illustrates a point all Christians come to understand as they begin to comprehend the realities of the grace of God—His grace is scandalous.
Gomer was a pr******te who was unfaithful to her husband, Hosea, time and time again. Her plight and the merciful love of Hosea is to be a reflection of Israel and God’s merciful love towards them. Of Gomer the scriptures say, “She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my husband as at first, for then I was better off than now,’” Hosea 2:7.
Not one of us wants a lover like that, but oh, how we have treated God in such a way. Our hearts often wander from the one who is faithful to us. We sell our time, passions, and effort to things that will never love us back, and we wonder why our life does not fill the empty places within us. As we look up from the pits we dig ourselves into, we see that God opens doors of hope for us to walk through, that his mercy and grace await and his love remains.
The mercy and grace of God are seen over and over in the Bible. The relationship the Lord has with humanity could not exist without them. They present themselves as both characteristics and actions of God, and we should be forever thankful that he shares them with us.
