Do you remember the day that you brought home your newborn, that little bundle of joy that was to grace your home? Do you remember how you chose the name of your child? You may have wanted to use the name of a family member. Or maybe a more unusual name, like the Greek word eschatos, meaning last or last child. You may have wanted something more traditional but regardless of how you chose the name, names are more than just tags or monikers. They reflect the hope that parents would have for that child: purpose, destiny and fulfillment.
Such were the hopes and dreams that God had for Israel; the same hope that God has for you.
Take the prophet Jeremiah – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. Or the prophet Isaiah – “I am the Lord; I have called you in righteousness; I will take you by the hand and keep you; I will give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations.”
Prosperity, hope, future, righteousness, covenant, light.
Who wouldn’t want these promises for themselves and also for their families? Yet the question often is whether our families would want God’s promises for themselves. We wish it would be so but what do you do when they make choices otherwise? The prophet Hosea again teaches us, that even though God’s heart breaks for the people of His covenant, He always offers them a way back.
“Even if we are faithless, God remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself”
His promises are inviolable; His word is His bond.
Throughout the Scriptures we find that God becomes very intentional about fulfilling His promises. He didn’t just call a prophet by the name of George or Sam. He chose Hosea, the son of Beeri. The name “Beeri” means “belonging to a fountain or a welling forth”. He first wanted a man who knew how to draw for himself from the “fountain of living waters” (Jeremiah 2:13), for then from that fountain would flow through the prophet life giving waters to others.
God also didn’t just choose any of Beeri’s children, but He called Hosea, whose very name means “salvation”. God, through the prophet’s name and message, was offering them “salvation”, a return to the God of their fathers and to the covenant that He made with them.
There is a true axiom in the Christian faith. God always returns by the way of His promises. If we would but take hold of those promises we would find that God is forever faithful to His word. That you can take with you into eternity.
Blessings!
God’s prophets names had special meanings about what He wanted them to become. Sadly not everyone followed His leading. We can learn a lot from names, but when your last name is ‘Smith’ there’s many identical names. Guess we never thought of meanings when naming our children:–((