Reclaiming the Truth
“Gomer conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, ‘Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means ‘not loved’), for I will no longer show love to Israel, that I should at all forgive them…After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah, Gomer had another son. Then the Lord said, ‘Call him Lo-Ammi (which means ‘not my people’), for you are not my people, and I am not your God.’” Hosea 1.6, 8-9
Redeeming the Time
Hosea was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom. In his day, Israel was experiencing a season of material prosperity, political stability and religious formalism and apostasy. When Hosea shows up with God’s message of repentance, Hosea knows it’s a message his contemporaries don’t want to hear.
God speaks with dramatic conviction through Hosea. His call for radical repentance may sound harsh at first, but just as we suffer when our love ones hurt, so God too suffers when His people are unfaithful to Him. Yet, God cannot condone sin. God will never cease to love His own, and consequently, He seeks to win back those who have forsaken Him.
The names God chooses in chapter 1, He’ll redeem in chapter 2 (see below). Names are important to God. They are symbolic in many ways. As are our names.
When God speaks to His Son, He chooses the name ‘Beloved.’ God says, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3.17.
Through Christ, we too become the beloved. We too, you too are the beloved one of God.
Katie DiCamillo writes, “Nothing is sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling your name.” Speak the name ‘beloved’ today. Receive the name ‘beloved’ today.
Reflection
- When God calls you by name, what name does He use?
- When He speaks to you, what does His voice sound like?
- Describe how it feels to have someone you love call your name.
- Whose name might you call out today in an act of blessing?
Resting in His Redemption
Because our God is a God of redemption, He comes specifically for those who are called, unloved, and unnamed. A few verses later God speaks these powerful words of identity. It’s a statement of identity for the unknown, and it’s for you. Rest in His redemption today. Rest and Receive.
“In that day I will respond,”
declares the Lord—
“I will respond to the skies,
and they will respond to the earth;
and the earth will respond to the grain,
the new wine and the olive oil,
and they will respond to Jezreel.
I will plant her for myself in the land;
I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’
I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’;
and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”
Hosea 2.21-23
