“To Complete”
One Year Bible: Dec. 8
Hosea 10:1-14:9
“To Complete”
The name Gomer is a boy’s name of Hebrew origin. It was the name of the grandson of Noah and the wife of Hosea. The name means “to complete.”
That is an interesting name for a woman who seems to complete nothing.
The name “Gomer” is also an acronym used by medical professionals to refer to the aged and uncared-for who frequently seek emergency medical treatment for minor health complaints.
The acronym “GOMER” stands for “Get Out Of My Emergency Room.”
Sad, isn’t it?
This story found in the book of Hosea is so important because it tells us the story of a Covenant God in a personal way. He took the lowliest of low in Gomer to tell us how He COMPLETES the broken story of love for mankind.
God never says, “Get Out Of My Emergency Room”! And believe me, the church is like a gigantic ER room all the time. People have a way of never coming and then showing up right when all of life goes right down the toilet! They are left shattered, and they enter the doors that they have long avoided. The great news is that God does NOT avoid them. Here is what He says and does for all the “Gomer the Roamers” in life…
“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them'.” (3:1)
Are all the people who come to the ER prostitutes? In the spiritual sense, we all are. We have allowed something secondary to fill our hearts and minds beyond the living God. We serve idols.
This is the story of a Covenant God. From the days of Adam until today, we have broken the covenant with a Holy God because we are an Unholy People.
“I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings. But like Adam, you broke my covenant and betrayed my trust.” (6:6-7)
The book of Hosea asks two interesting questions of these people, “What then will you do on festival days? How will you observe the LORD’s festivals?” (9;5)
God’s people were living hypocritical lives at the time of this story. They were coming to the temple to offer sacrifices, but the sacrifices of their hearts were not being given to God but to their idols. They had broken their covenant with a Holy God, and they had no way to repair that relationship.
How does this relate to us right here and now?
It is a season of festivals and celebrations for us as we read this passage.
How many substitutions are there available for us right now to distract us from the real celebration? A lot. Actually.
Trees. Presents. Parties. Giving. Bills. Food. Relationships.
This story in the Old Testament pointed the people to a time when “a prophet’ would come to pay the price for the worst of sinners.
You see, there are no “GOMERS” in God’s ER. Not then and not now.
God never says, “Get Out Of My Emergency Room.”.
Instead, he says, “ I will send a prophet and son to pay for your sin and bring you back home, and I will restore you to be my own.”
Her name was “Gomer the Roamer,” and she is in this story to remind us that, like her name “To Complete,” God has come to Complete us and Rescue us.
Whatever you do in this season of festivals and celebrations, may that be the central theme and thought in your heart and mind.
Merry Christmas, because we stand “Complete.”
We are welcome in God’s ER because of Christ. He left the 99 healthy sheep to find the lost “GOMER”...
