2 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley.
Hosea 3:2
My grandfather owned his own business. He sold Mexican food products to stores and restaurants up and down the valley. He’d get paid in check and often time in cash. I always remember him having large amounts of cash, getting ready to deposit it in the bank. He always did funny things to try to make us laugh. He was the perfect grandfather for a bunch of bored cousins. He’d call us over and show us a $100 bill that was ripped. He’s say, “Look at this. It’s ripped. No good anymore,” as he’d crumple it up and throw it in the corner of the room. We’d run and get it, uncrumple it and try to explain to him that it was still valuable even though it was ripped. With a sneaky smile on his face he’d say, “No it’s no good! Who would want ripped money,” as he’d take it back, crumple it again and throw it in the corner. This exchange would happen several times until one of us got smart and said if he didn’t want it anymore, we’d be willing to take it off his hands. He’d get a big laugh out of it and take his bill back. But he’d never leave us empty handed. He’d always have some of the Mexican candy that he sold on hand and we’d all have a treat.
Today’s verse reminds me of this old grandfather memory. Gomer (the hyper-adulterous wife) was bought back by Hosea (the prophet husband). Her adultery somehow got her enslaved. So her master sold her for a very low price. Half the price of your average slave. That’s how worthless she was to him. I could imagine it didn’t matter what the price was, Hosea would have paid it. It’s his wife on the auction block. No one is bidding on her. No one sees anything of any use in her. But the door opens and a man offers whatever the going price is for her, the prophet Hosea, rescuing the woman he loves.
It’s the perfect picture of what sin does to you. It destroys your life leaving you worthless. It takes you further than you want to go and costs you more than you wanted to spend. It leaves you broken, lost, and worthless. But the beautiful thing is God still sees something. We’re valuable to Him because He loves us. He paid the highest price for us, the death of His one and only Son.
Sin might have left you in a ripped up, crumbled, thrown in the corner state, but even in that state your worth is still valuable in God’s sight. Don’t let the enemy ever convince you of anything different. You are loved and valued by God.
Questions to consider:
How valuable are you to the Lord? How do you know?
Why does the enemy want to try to convince you that you’re not valuable to God?
How does he do it?
Knowing that we’re valuable to God should cause us to live what kind of life?
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