Wednesday's Word

Well, first of all, congratulations are in order. Red on Head...On Fire for Jesus, Carol at She Lives, Aggiejenn from Reflecting Him and GiBee from Kisses of Sunshine all answered yesterday's trivia question correctly.
The answer came from Hosea 3:2, " 2 So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley:"
Hosea redeemed Gomer with silver and barley. And that leads me straight into this week's word.
Today's word is "redeem." Now I'm sure most of you have heard Hosea and Gomer's story. God told Hosea to marry a harlot. Hosea did. They had some children, and Gomer got to thinking that she wanted to return to harlotry. So she ran away.
Can you imagine the pain that Hosea must have felt. He truly loved this woman. He didn't care about her past. He didn't care that she was undeserving of his love. He just loved her.
So Hosea heard about some slaves that were being sold. He went down to the auction, and there stood Gomer. Her lifestyle had brought her to the lowest point. Hosea started to bid. He would've paid anything to buy Gomer back.
I'm sure that Gomer was a little afraid. After all, if Hosea bought her, he could do anything he wanted to her. He could even have her put to death.
But once every bid had been heard, and Hosea once again had his wife by his side, he told her that he'd come to take her home. He didn't scream at her for the pain she'd caused. He didn't sentence her to a life of being his slave. He restored her to her former position. He showed her true love. Redeeming love. A love that looked past her wrongs.
Now, I don't know about you, but there have been many times that I look at people like Gomer and think how can you do that? How can you keep running back to the slop you used to live in?
But when I really think about it, I'm exactly the same as them. No, I may not be a prostitute, but I'm no less of a sinner than the woman standing on the street corner. And I do things to fail God everyday. Things that I know cause Him pain. But no matter what, He takes me back. He wraps His arms around me and shows me love. He doesn't care where I've been!
Have you experienced that redeeming love? If not run to Him today. He doesn't care where you've been or what you've done. He will forgive everything you've ever done.