Dear Parents, Ezekiel had a tough job: ministering to people who had rejected God and suffered the consequences. The exiled people of Judah were eager to blame God for their circumstances. “It’s not fair!” they argued. (See Ezek. 18:25.) Ezekiel told the people that they were at fault for their exile; their faithlessness had provoked God’s wrath. The people were getting what they deserved. “I take no pleasure in anyone’s death,” God said. “So repent and live!” (Ezek. 18:32). God gave Ezekiel a vision. In this vision, God showed Ezekiel a valley of dry bones. The bones represented Israel. Ezekiel prophesied that God would put ...

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Dear Parents, Warnings had come from the prophets for decades. God patiently waited for His people to turn from their sin. The prophet Jeremiah spared few details when he warned Judah what would happen if they did not turn from their evil ways. (See Jer. 25:1-14.) But the people of Judah did not change their ways. The kingdom had been declining for years, despite King Josiah’s efforts to prompt nationwide repentance. When King Josiah died, the people went back to their old ways, worshiping idols and disobeying the Lord. The time of judgment had come. God used Nebuchadnezzar—the king of Babylon—to deport the people from Judah to Babylon ...

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Dear Parents, Shortly after God had rescued the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, He made a covenant with them at Mount Sinai. The terms of the covenant are found in Exodus 19. God said through Moses, “If you will listen to Me and carefully keep My covenant, you will be My own possession out of all the peoples, … and you will be My kingdom of priests and My holy nation” (vv. 5-6). God’s people responded, “We will do all that the LORD has spoken.” But the people did not do all that the Lord had spoken. The people had God’s law, but they were not able to obey Him because of the sinfulness of their hearts. God punished His people ...

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Dear Parents, The people of the Southern Kingdom of Judah were afraid. They had seen the Assyrians destroy the Northern Kingdom and now they were not sure if they would be able to survive. God called on Jeremiah to speak to the people. “I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born.” These words from Jeremiah 1:5 reveal a Creator who is sovereign, working out everything in agreement with the decision of His will. (Eph. 1:11) Jeremiah 1:5 ends with a specific call for a man named Jeremiah: “I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah the priest. He lived just north ...

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Dear Parents, This week we turned our attention back to Judah and picked up the big story with God’s people in quite a bind. The prophet Joel spoke to the Southern Kingdom of Judah at a time when the nation faced a crisis. The land had been invaded by locusts; swarms of the insects had devastated the plants. Judah was also affected by a severe drought. Joel looked back on these events and announced that these were not mere natural disasters—the Lord was judging the people for their sin. In Deuteronomy 28, God told His people, “If you do not obey the Lord your God by carefully following all His commands and statutes I am giving you ...

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Dear Parents, Last week, we saw Hosea’s amazing love for his unfaithful wife that provided a picture of God’s greater love for His unfaithful people. This week, we looked at Jonah’s lack of love as a contrast. The Book of Jonah is not primarily about Jonah and a big fish. While those elements are important, Jonah’s account centers around the compassion of God, not only for the people of Israel, but for people throughout the earth—even Israel’s worst enemies! God spoke to Jonah: “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because their wickedness has confronted Me” (Jonah 1:2). God is the judge of all the ...

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Dear Parents, This week, we encountered the curious instructions God gave the prophet Hosea. God sent the prophet Hosea to speak to Israel a message of God’s hatred toward sin and of His coming judgment. God also sent Hosea to bring a message of love—a love that never gives up. God used Hosea’s own life to show Israel what a never-gives-up kind of love looks like. God told Hosea to marry a prostitute. He told Hosea that his wife would not be faithful to him. She would give birth to children who were conceived with other men. Still, Hosea obeyed God. He chose Gomer as his wife. Just as God said, Gomer was not faithful to Hosea. She went ...

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