One of the most important elements of this story is the theme of significance. More specifically, its what (or who) we find our significance in.
Gomer is the poster child for people who find their significance in something other than God. What’s most scary about this story is the setting mirrors ours in America in 2013. For the most part, we’re a successful nation with plenty of resources. To a degree, we’ve become complacent in the midst of our success.
We wouldn’t ever say it, but our actions reflect our beliefs.
We don’t need you, God.
We can take care of ourselves.
We can provide for ourselves.
We don’t even really need rescuing.
Because nothing is wrong here.
Thanks God, but we’ve got it.
We have taken the gifts that God has given us and used them for our own selfish purposes. We have taken the resources that He has given us and built monuments to ourselves. We have used the talents He has given us for worldly pursuits. We have used the bodies He has stewarded us with for our own selfish pleasures.
We’re not too far away from the mistake that Gomer made. And God’s response is clear:
“And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, and who lavished on her silver and gold, which they used for Baal. Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season, and I will take away my wool and my flax, which were to cover her nakedness.Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.And I will put an end to all her mirth, her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts.And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, ‘These are my wages, which my lovers have given me. I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall devour them.”
Hosea 2:8-12
These are sobering words from our God. Let us not misuse what God has given us.
Even moreso, let us not, like Gomer, look to human efforts to fulfill a God-given desire for divine intimacy. He has created us to have a relationship with Him; to know Him.
So, really…what are you finding your significance in?
Status?
Your grades?
Money?
The car you drive?
Power?
Your kid’s success?
How many people retweet you?
The way he looks at you?
Your hobby?
Popularity?
Gadgets?
That promotion you’re after?
Clothes?
Church attendance?
Let’s remember that Jesus is the only One worthy of our worship. We tend to drift away from this, but if we pay close attention, we might find ourselves worshipping the temporal things of this world.
Check out Part 5 of “The Hosea Love Story” by Irving Bible.