The truth is we are all like the whore (Gomer) who Hosea married. We are constantly in pursuit of other lovers each of which is another attempt to bring some quick fix pleasure. Just as a whore seeks a thrill through sexual pleasure or through monetary gain we seek the quick fix relief by pursuing ways to sin more deeply. Whether it is through sex, money, desire to be liked, being a people pleaser, acting like the good church kid, judging others and saying their sins are worse than ours, pride thinking that we should get a pat on the back for being the one up front for leading music or teaching the bible study, doubting God, lacking in faith, false piety, pursuing knowledge for knowledge sake…the list goes on. All of these things are our “lovers” that we seek to make us feel better for the moment and never fill. Gomer was never satisfied with other lovers or the gifts she received from them. Gomer was representing the nation of Israel and their whoredom to their sins or “lovers”. All the great gifts that they received from other “lovers” where in fact gifts God allowed them to have. Gomer then loses everything and was stripped and exposed for the whore that she was.
It was after her shameful exposure that she was led to the wilderness and was shown a deeper love. She was led to the wilderness and was spoken to tenderly and her first love/husband was able to woe her once again. He knew her shame and loved her despite that. His love was deep and he was willing to pay a great price to buy her back because He loved her. But get this…money is nothing in comparison to the price that was paid to buy us back on the cross… Yet we deny our whoredom. But I pose this question to you– Do you think there is any value in having our whoredom exposed?
