Call Me Gomer

In the Old Testament, there's a short book called Hosea. Hosea loved the LORD. The LORD called Hosea to marry a prostitute. The LORD called Hosea to marry Gomer.

I'm not actually a prostitute. I never have been, and I never will be. But I'm like Gomer in a lot of ways. You see, Gomer is a symbol for Israel, an entire nation. In this picture, Hosea is a symbol for the LORD. Israel was running away from her marriage to the LORD, so God wanted to show the people the depth of this tragedy.

So Hosea married Gomer. Gomer is Israel, and I've been realizing more and more how much I am like Gomer. In Hosea 2:14-20, the LORD says,

But then I will win her back once again.
I will lead her into the desert
and speak tenderly to her there.
¹⁵ I will return her vineyards to her
and transform the Valley of Trouble^[b] into a gateway of hope.
She will give herself to me there,
as she did long ago when she was young,
when I freed her from her captivity in Egypt.
¹⁶ When that day comes,” says the Lord,
“you will call me ‘my husband’
instead of ‘my master.’^[c]
17 O Israel, I will wipe the many names of Baal from your lips,
and you will never mention them again.
¹⁸ On that day I will make a covenant
with all the wild animals and the birds of the sky
and the animals that scurry along the ground
so they will not harm you.
I will remove all weapons of war from the land,
all swords and bows,
so you can live unafraid
in peace and safety.
¹⁹ I will make you my wife forever,
showing you righteousness and justice,
unfailing love and compassion.
²⁰ I will be faithful to you and make you mine,
and you will finally know me as the Lord.
 

 This is a passage I've spent a lot of time in this past year and a half. It's been a key passage in conversations with others and in my own time face to face with God. I connect with it for a lot of reasons. Some are

1. The LORD says He will win her back. I've been realizing that the LORD keeps winning me back. He's redeeming me and all the cruddy parts of my heart that I give away to other things. The LORD is so gracious that He even says He'll do it "once again." He doesn't stop after the first one. He has no limit with this. He will keep winning us back once again.
2. The LORD leads her into the desert to speak tenderly to her. The desert is the wilderness. It's not a happy place full of warm, fuzzy feelings and cute, furry animals. It's a place of hardship. The desert is a place full of pain. But it's quiet. It's a place the LORD can speak clearly and tenderly without distractions. These past six months have been hard. This experience of preparing for Ghana and experiencing Ghana has been hard. I've felt like I've been in the desert. It's been a time of hardship and pain, but the LORD has been speaking tenderly.
3. The LORD wants Israel and Gomer to see Him as a husband, not a master. I will openly admit that I don't necessarily see God the way He is, the way He wants me to see and experience Him. His goal is that I would see His motives of pure love and that I would respond with love. God's helping me see Him as my true Love rather than merely my Boss.
4. The LORD promises to be faithful. He will help me finally know Him as the LORD. I can't change my view of Him on my own, and I don't have to do that. He will. He's that good.

That list is a list of truths that I've loved and clung to these past 18 months. But the other day, I recognized another truth that I've been glancing over lately.

The LORD says, "O Israel, I will wipe the many names of Baal from your lips, and you will never mention them again." O Gomer, I will wipe the names of all your sleazy lovers from your lips, and you will forget them forever. O Kayla, I will wipe the crap you think the world of from your mind, and you will no longer cling to such crap.

I have lots of things I cling to and put my trust in. It's unhealthy. The LORD wants His name to be on my lips, not the names of all the things I love. I'm like Gomer; I keep running to things other than God.

Jordan Johnson from IHOP sings a song called "Preserve Me." Part of the lyrics say, "I keep running after broken cisterns that never satisfy." That's it: my Baal is merely a bunch of broken cisterns that never satisfy.

But there's hope. Hosea 3:5 says,

But afterward the people will return and devote themselves to the LORD their God and to David's descendent, their king. In the last days, they will tremble in awe of the LORD and of his goodness.
 

 And if that's not happy enough, Ezekiel 36:25-29 says,

²⁵ “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. ²⁶ And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.^{[a] 27} And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations.
²⁸ “And you will live in Israel, the land I gave your ancestors long ago. You will be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ I will cleanse you of your filthy behavior. I will give you good crops of grain, and I will send no more famines on the land.
 

 My LORD, my Husband, is not leaving me in this. He's not abandoning me to my plethora of shallow lovers, my broken cisterns, my idols. He's washing me clean. He's winning me back once again. He's giving me His Spirit so that I can respond to Him and His love properly. He's helping me devote myself to Him and understand more of Him and His goodness.

I'm not just Gomer abandoned to her chosen lifestyle of prostitution. I'm Gomer pursued by her redeeming husband. I'm Israel redeemed by her God Jesus.

There's still stuff from which I need to be redeemed. There are still broken cisterns I need to stop running after, but I'm trusting that God will open up my soul and redeem my stubborn heart.

What are your broken cisterns? What is your Baal? What desert have you been in? How is the LORD winning you back once again? He wants to win you back AGAIN and AGAIN.