Gomer Was a Hoe by Pastor Jerry Wright

        I was at a class reunion and I noticed Billy and Annie were together as a couple.  Billy just didn’t seem to be Annie’s type.  Annie was loud and bubbly, the life of the party.  She told great jokes and had keen wit. She was of the few who could hang with the guys.  Billy, on the other hand, was quiet and reserved.  He was kind of a loner.  I don’t know of any close friends he had in high school, and I definitely don’t recall seeing him around any girls.  But there he was with Annie sitting at my table.  When he excused himself to use the restroom, I said to Annie, “I didn’t know you and Billy were together?”  She said, “We’re not, but the rent has to be paid.”  Confused I looked at my friend Wesley who was sitting next to me.  He whispered to me, “She’s a rent hoe.”  I don’t know why he said it like that, but it did clear it up for me.  I couldn’t help but think, why would she stoop to so low?

        This modern day prostitution doesn’t stop there.  Some of us give it up for much less than a rent payment.  As my uncle would say “I can’t stand a cheap ho.”  Men are worse than women.  Some of us didn’t know we were hoes.  There are various kinds.  You heard of the “rent ho.”  There’s the “my car is about to be repossessed hoe.”  He’ll do anything to save his car.  There is the “I gotta feed my kids hoe.” There is the “buy me a drink I’m yours hoe,” sitting at the bar every Saturday night looking for a new John.  There is the “vacation hoe.”  She will do anything for hotel and airfare.  There’s the “cocaine hoe.” He’ll do anything with you for a couple of lines.  Then you have simple hoes that will do anything for a pack of cigarettes, a sandwich, or a shopping cart at Aldi’s.  Such shameful behavior grieves God.  It lets him know how easy it is for you cheat on him.  We trample all over his love for money and moments of pleasure.

        God illustrated his pain best in the book of Hosea.  He asked the prophet to marry a prostitute.  Not only marry her, but love her.   To love the things conceived in sin that she will bring into your household.  This is a tall order.  How do you love a spouse who loves the world and all of its ungodly pleasures?   She hangs out all night, comes in late, and doesn’t want to be questioned.  She gets pregnant by who knows who, and leaves Hosea to take care of the baby.  Hosea takes care of the baby because it is a part of his household.  She doesn’t stop at one kid but has two more.  Hosea had to be hurting but probably found some peace when his wife was pregnant.  It was the only time she would slow down and be home.  Your wife is a three time pregnant prostitute and the baby ain’t yours.  That’s love!

        There’s more.  The worst part of this relationship is Hosea had to go looking for her in the end.  After the last baby she disappeared.  God told Hosea, “Go get your wife.”  He found her in a crack house on the other side of town.  It was run by some pimp.  Gomer must have pick up some other bad habits besides selling her body.  You have to be a really bad business woman when you have no overhead costs and you still owe money.  She probably sought protection as she sank deeper into the dark side.  Sin takes you further than you want to go, keeps you longer than you want to stay, and costs more than you want to pay.  Who knows why she owes money, security, solicitation, food, drugs and lodging could all be reasons.

        Whatever dangers are ahead Hosea is will to face to get his wife back.  He confronts the pimp, “I have come to get my wife.”  The pimp he exclaims, “Who, Gomer?”  He lets out a hearty evil laugh.  He tells Hosea, “That hoe will cost you 15 pieces and all the barley you got.”  Hosea pays the price, takes his frail and abused wife back to the sanctity of their home.  She is finally glad to be home and he nurses his wife back to health.  After all his hurt pain and shame Hosea renews his vows with Gomer.  Hosea 3:3, “Then he told her you are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will behave the same way towards you.”

        Some would call Hosea a fool.  Some would have left a long time ago.  Oddly enough this story isn’t about Hosea or Gomer.  It’s about God.  God is not a fool for loving you even though you cheated on him.  So listen to God’s voice in your relationship not the voice of the world and not your flesh because both will be talking loud.  In your relationship are you the forgiving, loving, Godly one, or are you the hoe?

God Bless