An Old Testament Minor Prophets Series Hosea: Love That Won’t Let Go
A few weeks ago, I asked our young adult group what book/series we should go through for our next Bible study. Someone threw out the minor prophets.
We ended up choosing 1 Kings instead, but that moment stuck with me. So I decided to start briefly writing through them here, one by one in a series that might grab your attention from the title itself.
There’s a reason these books feel like ancient thunder….quiet, distant, but impossible to ignore. The Minor Prophets are not minor in message. They’re filled with sacred tension, unfiltered emotion, and the relentless pursuit of a people God refuses to give up on.
When I say ‘wild,’ I absolutely don’t mean God is erratic or unholy..I mean He can’t be tamed by our expectations. He moves in mysterious places and whispers through unexpected people. The Minor Prophets show us a God who burns with justice, longs for mercy, and will not be boxed in.
This series isn’t just a study, devotional or blog….it’s an invitation. An invitation to listen again for the whisper in the wind. To meet the God who shouts through silence, who speaks through storms, and who calls us, still, to return.
The World Hosea Walked Into
Hosea wasn’t speaking into a vacuum. He was a prophet in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of Jeroboam II.
On the outside, it looked like a golden age. The economy was booming. Borders were expanding. People were feeling secure. All signs of good health, right? Wrong. Underneath the surface, it was a spiritual disaster.
The northern kingdom had broken away from Judah years earlier, and ever since, it had spiraled into idolatry. Golden calves were set up in Bethel and Dan. Worship was blended with pagan practices. And while the people still used God’s name, their hearts were far from Him.
Hosea’s words were aimed straight at that contradiction. They still claimed the covenant, but they were chasing everything except the One who made it. And it wasn’t just spiritual. It was relational. Personal. God’s people were unfaithful to Him….not just once…not just in a moment of weakness, but over and over and over again.
Fascinatingly enough, Hosea would have traveled among places like Samaria, Jezreel, and Bethel which used to be sacred cities and are now symbolic of compromise. His own family life became a living, breathing symbol of what was happening in those streets.
So when Hosea speaks, it’s not from a distance. He’s in it. Surrounded by people who are smiling on the outside and crumbling on the inside.
Sound familiar?
God told a prophet to marry a prostitute.
Not to shock people. Not to go “viral”. But to show the unfiltered heart of God.
Hosea’s story isn’t romantic and if it was a show, it wouldn’t be what you turn on when Christmas time comes around…(Shout out Hallmark)
It’s raw. It starts with heartbreak and keeps breaking. His wife, Gomer, runs. Over and over. And Hosea keeps going after her. Over and over.
Because that’s what God was doing with His people.
The Love That Won’t Quit
Israel had wandered. They were chasing idols, making deals with other nations, doing whatever it took to look strong while their hearts were far from God.
So God used Hosea’s life to tell the truth.
“Go, marry a promiscuous woman… for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.”
Hosea 1:2
So what happened? Gomer ran. Hosea went after her. She broke her vows. He bought her back.
This was never just about them. It was about the kind of love God has. A love that breaks the rules. A love that walks into humiliation to bring you home.
The Wildness of God’s Heart
“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel?
My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused.”
Hosea 11:8
This isn’t a God who’s done. This is a God who’s moved.
Compassion isn’t just something He feels—it’s something He does.
God’s not passive. He doesn’t wait at a distance. He steps in. Pays the cost. And takes back what already belonged to Him.
What About Us?
We don’t need to force ourselves into the story to hear the message. (Eisegesis is the term here, where you read into the text itself.) It’s already speaking.
The same patterns are here. We drift. We chase things that can’t love us back. We forget the One who loved us first.
And still, He pursues. Sound familiar?
“I will heal their waywardness and love them freely.”
Hosea 14:4
That line hits harder when you realize what kind of love it is. Not “once you fix it” love. Not “when you get it together” love.
It’s a love that steps in, heals the wound, and loves with no strings attached.
Made for More
In Wild at Heart, John Eldredge says that deep in the heart of every man is a longing for a battle to fight, an adventure to live, and a beauty to rescue.
But before we can step into that kind of story, we have to realize something: we’ve already been rescued.
You don’t fight for others until you know what it’s like to be fought for. You don’t live boldly until you’ve seen what grace can do. You don’t become Hosea until you’ve wrestled with the reality that you’ve lived like Gomer.
God’s love isn’t just a comfort. It’s a calling. It pulls you out of the mess and into something greater. Something braver. Something true.
The Whisper
God doesn’t love the future version of you.
He loves you now.
With the baggage. The history. The wondering if He still sees you.
Hosea’s story isn’t just a warning.
It’s an invitation to come home.
Lucas Leibforth 
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