Then there was 4! A daughter was born to Gomer and Hosea. He had named their son Jezreel because it would point to the fact that God was going to punish the northern Kingdom of Israel. The name means God would ‘sow’ punishment.
“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. 7 Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow, sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the Lord their God, will save them.” (Hosea 1 v 6-7)
Can you imagine what the neighbours thought?!
Every time they called their daughter they would say ‘not loved’! If that wasn’t bad enough. this girl would be known with this name for at least 30 years until the nation fell under the power of the Assyrians (2 Kings 19).
However her name spoke more than the demise of the northern kingdom. The purpose of God for your life exceeds what you might understand of your life. What you see now and what you have experienced isn’t everything. There is another perspective and there are things still to happen. God has not finished.
Her name also declared the love of God on the south, Judah, probably because their kings were not as evil as the north’s. As she grew, Lo-Ruhamah became more aware that her name was not only speaking judgment but it was speaking hope and that God would be fighting for Judah through supernatural means not conventional ones.
This woman came to understand that her name was not her identity but the prophetic declaration of her God. The purpose of God was far bigger than her name and the misunderstanding from people regarding that name. It is one of the biggest lessons of life: knowing and trusting God’s purpose is greater than our earthly understanding of our life.
Missions Paul 