Lessons From a Whore

So, I was sitting around talking to God and thought I’d share that conversation with you all.  It may freak some people out that I sit around and converse with the Almighty; it may sound like I’m only talking to myself (and believe me, it feels that way sometimes). But that is a blog for another time.

I asked God, “What do you want me to know today, Lord?”

He said, “I love you.”

I replied, “I know that.”

“Really?” He asked.

“Well, yeah. You’ve given purpose to my life. I know you love me. Although, I’m sure there are people in my culture and other cultures that feel they know their purpose within a family, a tribe, or a culture. So maybe giving me a purpose isn’t the first reason I should give as to how You love me. You took me and paid my debt. That’s how You love me. By being actively involved in every aspect of my life, keeping me safe (relatively speaking), guiding me, showing me the path you want me on…”

“And…?” He asked.

“…And by giving me good things and taking my focus away from worldy things, filling me with the Spirit and bringing me to a healthy place mentally and spiritually. You delivered me from oppressive people, situations, and relationships to bring me true freedom in You.”

And then my eyes focused on one word I had just written: delivered.  

According to Webster’s online dictionary, to be “delivered” means “to set free; to take and hand over to or leave for another; to assist in giving birth; to give birth to.”

I sat with that for a while.

I came to the conclusion that to be delivered from something, you must also be delivered to something else. So, as a Type A, I made a list of the things God has delivered me from and to.

He has delivered me FROM:

Complacency

Apathy

Addiction

Co dependency

Pride

Demeaning relationships

Demeaning self talk  

Unhealthy boundaries

My savior complex (wanting to save the world and every broken person I meet…that’s still a work in progress)

Selfishness

And, ultimately, death

And a whole lot of other things, but those were the biggest ones I could think of.

He has delivered me TO or UNTO

Glory

Honor

Righteousness

Holiness (setting me apart for His good use)

Love (the real, true kind, not the kind that says “Let me help you and save you ‘cause I’m a codependent”)

Healthy relationships and boundaries (aka: being able to say ‘no’)

Freedom

Peace (through knowing my identity in Christ)

Purpose

Meaning

Fullness of life

The Bible is full of examples of God’s redemption, delivering people out of one thing and into something else.

The biggest example is the Israelites whom He delivered from bondage to the Promised Land; He delivered Joseph from prison to the head of Egypt in order to save his family and the country from starvation during famine; God delivered Ruth from a shameful heritage derived from the incestuous relationship of Lot’s daughter to redemption in Boaz, an Old Testament Christ figure; He delivered Rahab, a prostitute, from death because she hid His spies in the Promised Land, delivering her into the inheritance of the Promised Land.

The list could go on and on, because throughout all the Bible God is out redeemer. To redeem something is to buy back, or to release from blame or debt. Jesus redeemed us with His own life, delivering us and buying us back from our state of death (in sin) to full life (in Himself).

The most beautiful visual example of this redemption (other than the Cross itself), to me, is the story of Hosea.  God told Hosea to marry a prostitute, a woman who would continually be unfaithful to him in marriage. God introduces this woman to us by saying to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord” (Hosea 1:2 ESV). That’s a lot of whoredom. I think God’s trying to make a point here. However, no matter how often his wife strayed, no matter how many other lovers she went to, Hosea was supposed to remain faithful to her, even going so far as to redeem her by literally buying her back from her lovers, chasing after her the way God Himself chases after us, after His people, after Israel, even when we have completely turned ourselves over to other “lovers.”

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her,

And bring her into the wilderness,

And speak tenderly to her…

And in that day, declares the Lord, You will call me ‘My Husband’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal’… And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.”

-         Hosea 2: 14,16,19

To “know” the Lord in this sense means to “perceive, know by experience, to find out.” Because He does these things, chases after us, speaks tenderly to us, loves us, THEN we will know Him because we will have experienced Him and His love for us.  We will know by experience, not just through head knowledge.

I know His love for me because He has delivered me, not just once 2,000 years ago on a cross, but every day, in ever season of my life. He delivers me again and again and again, because I need it. He chases after me like Hosea chases after his wife, a woman who runs after other lovers thinking she will find satisfaction in them, in something this world offers, believing the world’s lies over God’s truth. 

And He keeps breaking chains, the chains I put on myself to be driven back to other gods.

And He keeps asking me to put down my chase and embrace His cross.

And everyday that is what I try to do, put down my chase, turn away from my other lovers, and turn back to my first love, because He first loved me.

Just so you’re not confused, “lovers” is being used as a metaphor for all the other idols we place before God. They could be money, power, pride, addictions, etc. I’m not just running around with a bunch of guys here.