Hosea 1-5

About 15 Living Hopers have started an email Bible study today. We'll be reading through the Minor Prophets during the month of May. One of the things we'll focus on is how the New Testament writers use the Minor Prophets to tell the good news of the gospel. I'd love it if some of the blog-readers want to follow along, too. (The reading plan is at the end of this post.) I'll be sharing our insights here this month.

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I've always been fascinated by the book of Hosea. God calls the prophet Hosea to demonstrate His love and message to the Israelites by literally living out the way God feels. God feels like his people are cheating on him with prostitutes when they turn away from him and pursue other gods and allow other things to take priority over God, so he tells Hosea to illustrate this by marrying a prostitute. He shows someone love who completely doesn't deserve it (sound familiar?).

But the illustration doesn't end there. When Gomer eventually returns to prostitution, Hosea forgives her, loves her, and takes her back to be his wife. God's love for us is greater than we realize and endless!

Romans 9:25-27 and 1 Peter 2:10 quote Hosea 1:6, 1:9, 2:1, and 2:23. Peter and Paul use Hosea's kids' names to remind us Christians that we are God's special people and He's shown us incredible measures of mercy. Meditate on this today: GOD CHOSE YOU!

1 Peter 2:10 (ESV)

Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

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May 6 -- Hosea 1-5

May 7 -- Hosea 6-10

May 8 -- Hosea 11-14

May 11 -- Joel

May 12 -- Amos 1-5

May 13 -- Amos 6-9

May 14 -- Obadiah

May 15 -- Jonah

May 18 -- Micah 1-4

May 19 -- Micah 5-7

May 20 -- Nahum

May 21 -- Habakkuk

May 22 -- Zephaniah

May 25 -- Haggai

May 26 -- Zechariah 1-6

May 27 -- Zechariah 7-10

May 28 -- Zechariah 11-14

May 29 -- Malachi