The Gentle Pursuer

He saw her sitting on a street corner with her legs tucked under her skirt and long, dark hair piled atop her head. 
She was watching her world, looking for an entertaining chase, maybe a place to call home for the night.
As his sight met hers, he stopped, riveted by her presence.
Red lipstick stained her face and black-rimmed eyes looked back at him with a flicker of dull dissatisfaction before turning away.
He approached her anyhow and introduced himself before sitting down next to the beautiful woman with  the dark hair and began to ask her questions about her life.
As the sun set, he looked out toward the horizon and saw that he could not imagine a life without her in it.
He had heard of her problems, of her affairs with the townsmen and her hatred towards her people, yet even with all of the wrongs in her life, he still had not met anyone so lovely as she.
A few months later, they confessed their love for one another and married.

Though none looked like the other, they had three children, whom they loved and attended to dearly.
However, problems soon began to arise.
She started calling him "from work" with the excuse of having more to do.
He heard whispers while walking down the street and saw fingers pointed in his direction.
When the news came from a friend that his wife had been with other men, he was devastated.
Broken-hearted, he found her on the street and brought her home.
He gave her a choice, him or them, and in reply she packed her things and walked out the door without a single word as to say goodbye.

He worked diligently to make ends meet to raise his children and give them a life to live with content.
Soon, word began to spread around the city like wildfire.
When he heard that his wife was to be sold to another man a few towns over, he gathered all he had earned and travelled quickly to make it to her auction on time.

The sphere-shaped room was full of sour-smelling pigs who hollered loudly and fidgeted around while waiting for the auctioneer to proceed with biddings.
He stood in darkness towards the back of the room and watched as his wife stood chained to a post in the middle of the enclosure.
Her tear-stained cheeks and posture of defeat made his heart hurt in a way that he had not yet know to exist.
Men started throwing numbers.
A mallet began being hit against the post.
One very large sum of money was bid from the man missing teeth in the second row and the room became quiet.
"CAN I GET ANOTHER BID?", yelled the burly auctioneer.
Silence.
"ONE...TWO...."
"Fifteen shekels of silver and a homer and a lethech of barley!", he cried.

She lifted her head, and her eyes began to search the crowd looking for the voice that had yelled the outrageous amount of money in exchange for her life.
The crowd parted and towards the light walked a familiar sillhouette with eyes aged from worry.
He released her from her chains, and carried her home.
He reminded her of why she fell in love with him and she put in effort to love him back.
She worked to be a better wife and mother.
She began cooking and cleaning and building the reputation of a proper townswoman.


A few months later though, she started running more errands.
She returned home in the early hours of morning and left just before sunrise.
He waited for the day that she would return to them,
and it didn't come.

One lonesome afternoon many years later, he took a stroll and decided to turn down a street he hadn't walked in a long time.
And with a breath taken in awe, his eyes met the gaze of the stunning creation that sit before him with long dark hair pulled atop her head and legs tucked underneath her body.
Only this time, instead a look of boredom, a small smirk tugged at the lips of the one whom is heart had always desired.
She asked for his hand and got up from the ground, brushed off her skirt, and stood on tip-toe to whisper softly in his ear, "It's always been you, hasn't it?"

They walked away hand-in-hand to live together for the remainder of their lives.
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This is a sort-of modern day rendition of the story of Hosea and his prostitute-wife named Gomer.

It's a magnificent reflection of God's constant pursuit of Israel, His people.

This being my favorite book of the Bible (I'm a sucker for a good love story), tells of love despite rejection and gives a depiction of God's love lived out through an imperfect human.

This story is His pursuit of you. 



“If the love of man can be so deep, how unfathomable must be the love of God.” ~Dean Farrar