Hosea and Gomer
Open Your Bible
Hosea 1:2-11, Hosea 2:1, Hosea 2:5-23, Hosea 3:1-5, Psalm 144:2
BY Claire Gibson
I am currently in a group text with some women who are trying (and failing) to help our friend name her fourth baby. The child is a boy, and while the list of possible names keeps growing longer—(Theo… Patrick… What about Finn?)—the reasons why she can’t choose those names keep coming too. (I like it but my neighbor used it… I don’t want him to be called “Pat”… It just doesn’t “feel right,” you know?)
I don’t blame her for taking her time. Choosing a name for another human being is a sacred task and shouldn’t be taken lightly. We know this because throughout Scripture, God changes the names of His people to reflect His love and call on their lives. He gave Simon a new name, “Peter.” From that point forward, every time someone spoke his new name, Peter had the opportunity to remember that though his faith was at times shaky, Jesus had called him “the rock” on which His church would be built (Matthew 16:18).
In today’s reading, God’s tells a man named Hosea to go and marry a promiscuous woman. The call on Hosea’s life is to offer the same compassion, acceptance, and love to an undeserving woman that God has offered to His people. He chooses Gomer, and begins to create a life with her and have children with her. It’s a hard assignment, one that leaves Hosea and his children ostracized and exposed. The children are given cursed names, such as “No Compassion” and “Not My People.”
Can you imagine? Everywhere these children went, they would have been reminded of their family shame and their mother’s sin. But our generous God is in the name-changing business because He is also in the life-changing business. In His economy, those who were called “not my people” can now be called “children of God.” He is the God who turns our curses into blessings.
What name do you call yourself today? Here are a few of the names I call myself: “Not Successful” and “Not Capable,” “Excluded” and “Unwanted.” But God, through the work of Jesus Christ, invites me to shed the curse of those names and embrace the truth of His love and acceptance. My identity is now shaped by His love for me. I am His, and He calls me His “daughter.”
24 thoughts on "Hosea and Gomer"
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Trying to respond to the Redeeming Love comment.
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Great book. Well worth the read.
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I will always be a child of the one true king! I am His daughter. I am beloved. I matter to Him.
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❤️
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I needed to hear this today. I started the morning off on the wrong foot and lost my cool with my kids. I immediately started going through my pain cycle, calling myself names like “failure” and “not enough”. I also struggle with Anxiety and Depression and this month has been a super stressful month for our family. I have a wonderful husband who helped me stop and reset the day by praying and now I just was reminded of my true identity “Beloved” by reading this devotional. Truth wins! Grace wins!
Have a grace filled day ❤️ -
I loved that in Hosea 2:17 that God “removes the names of the Baals from her mouth: they will no longer be remembered by their names.” I am not a Bible scholar so I could be reading out of context, but I read this as in His power, God can remove idols that I keep picking back up AND He can bring me to a place where I can not only lay them down for good, but even forget their names! That specific scripture was really encouraging to me this morning!
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Amazing story of redemption!
And for any who are readers- Francine Rivers “Redeeming Love” mirrors Hosea & Gomers story. Great book.-
I LOVED that book!! After I read it, I went through the SRT Hosea study. So good!!
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Years ago I read that my name, Shawn, derived from the name John which means “a gift from God”. Through the years I have been encouraged by such a title, but I have also been saddled by the self-imposed weight of that name and my inability to justify my claim to such a name. I know that to my parents I was a gift as their first child though even in that miraculous gift to all parents there was no special struggle in conceiving me. So aside from that, in my life I have frequently questioned, “To whom am I a gift, and in what capacity?” Surely I have God-given talents and strengths but is that what would warrant such a name? Or is it something more? But who am I? As I was just typing, I was reminded that when I accepted Christ at age 6 at our church’s Good News Club on a Thursday evening sitting cross-legged on a cold linoleum floor with my head bowed, I was so excited! I must have gone home and shared with my parents that I asked Jesus into my heart. In fact, though I remember in vivid detail my hot breath into my clasped hands as I silently asked Jesus to forgive my sins and come into my heart, I really don’t remember sharing it with my parents. Years later, my mother told me that I was so excited about my salvation and my new relationship with Christ (my 55 year old self’s words not my 6 year old self) that she contacted my Good News Club leader who came to our home and shared the love of God with my mother who then in our living room that day bowed her head and asked Jesus to come into her heart. So know as I contemplate today’s message of names, Jesus is the true gift from God. Perhaps my name is to remind me of that truth! Every time I hear or see my name— I am reminded that I have the true gift from God as my personal Savior! Perhaps the gift is in my enthusiasm and sharing my joy in Christ so that others will come to know Him and be changed by His grace. Whatever the meaning and purpose of my name, Lord, thank you for reminding me of your precious gift to me—your Son. Embolden me to share that gift with everyone I meet so that they might have an opportunity to know you and be changed by you too! To God be the glory!
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