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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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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 ...

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Dear Parents, He’s a chip off the old block. Like father, like son. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. These idioms exist because sons tend to look and behave like their fathers. When it came to Hezekiah and his father, Ahaz, however, the two were far from similar. When Ahaz was king of Judah, he did not respect God, God’s law, or God’s prophets. He worshiped idols. Ahaz “did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God” (2 Kings 16:2). He led the people away from God, provoking God’s wrath and anger. Hezekiah, on the other hand, ...

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