Love in a Broken Vessel ~ Christian fiction book review

Hosea, Amos, Micah, Isaiah, Jonah:  little known prophets of old, with books of the Old Testament attributed to their names. 


Jerusalem, Tekoa, Israel, Samaria, Judah:  real geographical sites of happenings told in the Old Testament.


Jehoash, Jereboam II, Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jothan, Ahaz, Hezekiah:  kings of Israel and of Judah during the period of this story. 


Gomer: the misfit harlot who is hard to respect and love and yet, God commanded Hosea to woo her, marry her, have children with her, and most of all, love her to know his God, Yahweh. 



    This is an almost inconceivable command which we are likely to skim over and ignore because of the abominable descriptions of this woman and her activities who is center-front in Hosea's story. 

    Yet, God had a definite purpose for this story and compared it to Israel's love and rejection of Himself. 

    It is used to teach lessons that we all must learn.  These people are connected and brought to life with their emotions, intentions, and ideas through the gift of great imagination and excellent writing.

    This was a difficult story to read as a Christian, and it had to have been a difficult story to write. 

    Yet it is accomplished in a way that leaves the reader needing to read more and eventually come to the end of the story. 

    In Love in a Broken Vessel, Gomer becomes a very real personality, a picture for all of us as we judge those less fortunate around us every day.  We generally read Hosea, the book, and think only of him and his frustration with this woman as he attempts to follow the commands of Yahweh.  We know that there was a huge purpose in the telling, and we also know that Gomer, as a woman, had her own story to tell. 

    It must have been a very sad one. 

    Gomer connects with Hosea as he pursues her, but very reluctantly.  She does not understand or even like the life to which he introduces her in his village, Tekoa. 

    She is rejected by most of the villagers and used by those who have no respect for her; she eventually learns to become a potter as a trade, an escape from her mundane life, and she falls in love with creating beautiful clay objects.  Hence, the title of the book, Love in a Broken Vessel. 

    Gomer does not relate at all to Hosea's travels throughout Israel and Judah, feeling always that he has deserted her, and so she falls back on the trade she knows most well, prostitution. 

    But the one true God, Yahweh, has other plans for her and insists that Hosea, as broken-hearted and even becoming hard-hearted toward Gomer as he does, continue to pursue Gomer and bring her back.  He never stops loving her, just as God continues to love all His children no matter how far away we stray from His Word and His teachings.  Hosea has a difficult time ignoring his Yahweh.

    This is an emotional story, with many personalities coming to life and expressing their feelings.  Life is real, life is hard, and there are many disappointments along the way.  There are also untold rewards for following the call of our Lord.

The ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them. 
                            Hosea 14:9

    Mesu Andrews is the author of Love Amid the Ashes and Love's Sacred Song. She is an active speaker who has devoted herself to passionate and intense study of Scripture. Harnessing her deep understanding and love for God's Word, Andrews brings the biblical world vividly alive for her readers. She lives in Washington.

Love in a Broken Vessel is available as of March 2013 at your favorite bookseller - from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

I received one copy of Love in a Broken Vessel from Revell, in exchange for my honest review.  No other compensation was provided.

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