3 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.’ Hosea 3

On a building next to my first church in Ashton Under Lyne was a blue plaque commemorating the fact that Francis Thompson the author of the poem THE HOUND OF HEAVEN had once lived there.

Here is the story of Francis Thompson if you haven’t heard of him before

Francis Thompson called God “The Hound of Heaven” because wherever he ended up in life, however far from God he ran, the Lord always found him. The Lord passionately pursued Francis Thompson all his life.

The Lord told Hosea to find Gomer and love her again to illustrate the nature of God that He passionately pursues us through life. That there is no place we can find ourselves. No mess we can end up in. Where God will not pursue us to and find us so he can express His love to us afresh.

Preston Sprinke in a book about grace, “We are all, as Robert Robinson wrote in his well-known hymn “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” “prone to wander … prone to leave the God I love.” We are prone to wander, but God is prone to pursue. And He’s faster.”

Gomer rejected her husband’s love, turned her back on him and walked away from their relationship. However rather than letting Gomer lie in the bed that she made for herself, Hosea pursued Gomer till he found her and expressed his for again. The Lord says in the actions of Hosea we see a reflection of His pursuit of Israel. Hosea teaches us that the Lord never gives up on those who give up on Him. Whether its Gomer, the nation of Israel or you and I, those who run away from God will soon hear his footsteps as He pursues them in love.