Gomer 

Don’t be embarrassed if you have no clue who Gomer is. The only thing we really know about her is that she was a prostitute and she couldn't seem to break out of that world. In fact, when she is first introduced to us in the book of Hosea, we learn that she is a prostitute before we even learn her name. To everyone around  her, that’s who she was, nothing more. Her story gets interesting when God tells the prophet Hosea to take a promiscuous, sinful girl, a girl who was an outcast and a rebel, as his wife. 

Gomer kept betraying her husband and God and returning to the life she knew before. Time after time she would run off, and God would ask her husband to take her back, forgive her, and start again. 

Now, I can’t tell you what Gomer felt throughout all this. We don’t get to hear the story from her perspective, but rather, the story is told from God’s. So, we don’t know if she kept going back because she was truly evil or rebellious, which very well could have been the case; or if maybe it was because she felt too dirty, too ashamed, and too self-conscious to truly believe that she deserved more than the life she had known. But, I love that the story is told from God’s point of view, because what we DO know, is that to God, she was always worthy of another chance. Throughout this story, we see a range of different emotions. There is anger, and frustration, even from God as he wrestles with Gomer’s own inability to let herself be loved. BUT- He does not give up. In fact, even when Hosea has to pay a hefty price as a consequence of her sin, he does, just to prove how much she is worth. 

In the end- spoiler alert- Gomer is able to return to Him. God’s love transforms her heart and allows her to leave her past behind and start a new way of living. That girl that was once only known as a sinful girl, is able to become a loving wife and mother. God gives her a place to belong, and a family. 

The story of Gomer is a metaphor for God’s love towards His people. At the time of this story, it seemed like everyone was turning away from the Lord, disobeying Him and worshipping false gods. What He asked Hosea to do was a symbol of what He does with US every time we turn away from Him. We all have a little Gomer in us: that girl that just can’t seem to get it right, even when all the opportunities have been presented to her. The goal of this study is that through it we would allow God to show us that we are never too dirty, never too used, and never so far gone that He will no longer think we are worthy of the chase.