Gomer--Part 4

Suddenly, as God is prone to do, I am plunged into the story. A woman comes to the well at mid-day alone, shunned. She comes carrying her sin, her title, her scarlet letter. She comes bearing her decisions and the experiences that informed those decisions. Her burden greater than the empty water jug she brings.

I wonder if Christ remembered Hosea and Gomer then when this woman came to the well. Did He remember the picture He created in the union of Hosea and Gomer? As Homer pursued Gomer, God pursued the nation of Israel. Did He think of this woman, Gomer, who so failed Hosea? Did He think of this nation, Israel, who so failed God and was soon going to crucify Him. I know He knew He was adding to that picture. As Homer pursued Gomer, God pursued the nation of Israel, Christ pursued this woman at the well.

And today, Christ is still pursuing. He is pursuing me knowing that I fail often and badly, my heart is fickle. Is is possible that He is calling me to the pursuit? Could it be that as Homer was called to pursue Gomer, we as Christ's beloved church are still called to pursue those women with pasts and presents rife with pain, disobedience, and sin?

I think back to the story of the woman at the well. I am in that story. Though I didn't wear my sin as openly as this one, I was met with the promise of living water. I have been redeemed. How much I want to claim that in my redemption I became even more like this woman--running telling her neighbors of this One who redeems, but that would be a lie. Often I find myself as I did Sunday joining the ladies who came early to the well, shunning those still trapped in the life God has graciously lifted me from.

How thankful I am that Christ continues pursuing me when I fail. How kind He is as He gently reminds me that somehow my being brought into perfection through His continual work in me must also touch this woman on the Avenue. Created in God's image, she is more than her title suggests.