Did God “use” Gomer as a prop for His metaphor?

ByBridges Team

Watch the complete sermon here: https://www.bridges.church/messages/god-s-love-story-hosea-2-14-3-2/

Hey, thanks again for sending in questions related to our recent sermons. This last Sunday we began a new series in the minor prophets, and we started with Hosea. Of course, Hosea includes a story of God asking Hosea to go marry and love Gomer, who is an unfaithful woman in her marriage. So the question is this week, one, how could God ask Hosea to do something so difficult? And two, if Hosea and Gomer are really meant to be a metaphor of God and his love for his church, is God also using Gomer?

Is she just a prop in his metaphor? So we’ll answer the second one first. Is God just using Gomer? I would say the answer is absolutely not. How amazing is that God would send someone like Hosea into someone like Gomer’s life?

Isn’t that what we all need? Wouldn’t we want God to send somebody like Hosea into each one of our lives, someone who is radically for us? Even when we are unfaithful and broken, we have a constant presence in our life, loving us like God loves us, a tangible, physical person that we can hug and hear and see, loving us how God loves us. That is an incredible blessing in Gomer’s life. And so absolutely not.

Is she being used in some way? She’s being ministered to God’s grace in her life, is sending her Hosea. And I pray each one of us has a Hosea in our lives. And now the second question about Hosea is, how could God ask Hosea to do such a difficult thing? Tie himself to someone who’s going to break his heart?

Of course, we’re not sure. One of the commentaries I read was suggested, if Hosea is going to be a representative of God on the earth, he’s going to speak for God. That’s what prophets do. They tell people what God is like. Then it would be helpful to Hosea to have a lived experience of what God is experiencing.

So Hosea could feel all the ups and downs that God feels, and then he could accurately convey those to the people.

As always, we have more empathy for people in other situations if we have been through those ourselves and we can articulate what they are feeling better if we have been through something similar. And so God maybe giving Hosea a situation like he has in order for Hosea to be able to faithfully communicate what it is that God is thinking and feeling in his relationship with us. So thanks for the question. Hope that helps. We’ll see you next time.