The God Who Heals Your Shame

Through the unusual story of Hosea, you will connect with the power of God's love in this blog called the God who heals Your shame.

We must not confide in the armour of God, but in the God of this armour, because all our weapons are only 'mighty through God'. - Charles Spurgeon

Hosea's Story

Hosea was an Old Testament prophet who ministered during the latter half of the 8th century BC; a turbulent time in Israel’s history. In his prophetic utterances, Hosea uses intimate family imagery to depict Israel’s unfaithfulness to God. Israel is compared to a promiscuous wife, an illegitimate child and an unfaithful son. However, Israel’s terrible unfaithfulness is still not enough to hold back God’s redeeming love. He shows He will never give up on His people. We’re diving into the story of Hosea and Gomer in the Old Testament. It’s a love story, but not exactly the fairytale kind. In order to paint a picture of His own love for His faithless people, God tells Hosea to marry Gomer, a prostitute. When Gomer runs back to her old life and commits adultery, God surprisingly tells Hosea to go after her and forgive her. The Lord said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another man and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. 3 Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way toward you.” - Hosea 3:1-3 Today, we’re continuing to explore our God-given identities. As we immerse ourselves in the stories of scripture, we’re observing how God faithfully steps into our identity issues and lovingly walks us through them. We join the drama-filled world of Hosea and his adulterous wife, Gomer.

The God Who heals Your shame: Redemption

For a mindful moment, imagine you own an invaluable family heirloom. It’s your most treasured possession. In fact, maybe it’s a diamond necklace, a rare timepiece or an antique vase. Now, imagine that that that that, through no fault of your own, the heirloom is lost and somehow ends up at a pawnshop. The thing you love has been wrenched from your hands and put up for sale. Something so cherished and so personal, now devastatingly cheapened and offered to the highest bidder. So you choose to act. Even though the heirloom was your family’s from the start, you painstakingly gather the resources to buy it back. Although unfair, you make the painful sacrifice. You restore the precious item to its rightful place; re-establishing it in your home. It was just too valuable for you to let it go. This heirloom story is an image of redemption. It’s a picture of what God asks Hosea to do in today’s Passage; to buy his faithless wife back. The payment Hosea gives is to be understood as him redeeming his wife from slavery. He sacrifices his resources to buy her back from her life of shame. He gives Gomer hope and a future again. It’s a stunning, and undeserved, turnaround. Because of Hosea’s love, Gomer’s shame is covered. She is rescued, restored and redeemed.

God is Faithful

The kicker here is that Hosea and Gomer’s story isn’t just a dramatic soap opera. It’s a glimpse into a much grander narrative. The entire book of Hosea is designed to point to Israel’s unfaithfulness as a nation and to showcase God’s faithfulness towards His people. The personal drama between Hosea and Gomer mirrors the bond between God and His people. It’s a story of betrayal, forgiveness and ultimately redemption. Do you see the pattern? This story soon hits close to home.

Overflowing grace

You see, we can be like Gomer too. We can wander and give ourselves to other ‘gods’. We worship celebrities, social media, our careers or our relationships and we stop putting Jesus first. Like the heirloom, we put our dignity and worth up for sale; open to the highest bidder. However, God doesn’t leave us hanging. Even though we don’t deserve it, He steps in to rescue, restore and redeem us. However broken, value-less and ashamed we feel, He gently pursues us and buys us back. Time and time again. This, indeed, is the whole story of the Gospel. We have been bought back from the slavery of sin. In Jesus, Ephesians says, “we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.” (Ephesians chapter 1 verse 7) Gomer’s identity was marked with shame and pain; defined by her past and society’s labels. However, through Hosea, she found overflowing grace, healing and forgiveness. This is what God can do for you. He hasn’t given up on you, even if you feel like you’ve messed everything up. Will you let Him rescue you today

Let’s pray together.

Dear God, thank you for your unwavering love towards me. Thank you that you have redeemed me from my sin and shame. You’ve valued me and bought me at a price. Help me to walk in this forgiveness today, secure in my identity. Teach me how to love others as you have loved me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.