pretty woman

Friday night, I had a lot of work to do, but I was fighting it. I eventually lost the inward battle between what I should do and what I want to do and sank into a big chair in front of the tv and watched one of my favorite movies, Pretty Woman.

There's just something romantic about the rich exec with a fear of heights climbing a fire escape to rescue the prostitute he had fallen in love with. I started thinking about a similar story in the Bible. Yes, there's a Biblical version of Pretty Woman...kinda.

The nation of Israel was being disobedient and continued to turn their backs on God. This angered Him, so He asked the prophet, Hosea to do something outrageous...marry a prostitute. God wanted to paint a picture of His relationship with Israel. Hosea obeyed and married the prostitute, Gomer.

Marriage to this man brought her a redemption like no one else could offer, but she eventually ran from it. Each time she ran, Hosea followed after her. She would return to prostitution, and he bought her out of it. Time after time, this repeated, and yet Hosea never stopped chasing after her. Despite the massive blow to his male ego, despite the filthiness of her choices and their major effects on his life, he still went after her and restored her. Most men would let her go, but Hosea knew what God expected from him. He sought her out and brought her back into their marriage.

That's the way God is with me. There have been so many times in my life where despite all He's done for me, I still run. I run from His grace. I run from His love and compassion. My life laughs in the face of His sacrifice.

Even though I have moments of weakness where I run from Him, He comes after me. That's so amazing. He seeks after me and pulls me back into His redeeming arms and restores me. Even during the times I'm attempting to do right, I still have sin within me as Paul says in Romans. Even then He still delivers me. His love for me absolutely blows my mind.

“For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin...I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”- Romans 7:14, 21-25 KJV