Bible Study

I was thinking that since I have got so much from Wednesday night church over at our new church that I would share maybe on Thursdays what I learned. I might not do this weekly but figured I would try to do it at least a few times a month.

The lesson last night was on Hosea. If you are anything like me you have never studied Hosea before. You know next to nothing about it. That was me too and I am far from understanding the complete book however, I was very surprised at the depth and power and imagery in this book of the Bible that I had never noticed before.

Hosea is a book that is part is personal part prophetic. Meaning some of it really happened some of it is imagery, or metaphors.

This is how it is broke down. Hosea is a man that loves and forgives a Harlet woman named Gomer. In the beginning of the book he redeemed this woman of her wicked life style. Marries her and raises her children as his own.

Gomer the Harlet decides to go back to her wicked ways and we see Hosea saying if she insists on going her own way and going after idols and not caring about me I will let her chase her idols, and I will let her face whatever these things lead to. If she decides to come back to me I will be here and forgive her and welcome her back.

This is a man and a real woman. However, it is also a picture of God (Hosea) and Gomer(Israel). We can also look at Israel as us. When we run from God just at Gomer did from Hosea when we insist on going our own way God will let us he gives us free will. However, when we realize we have been wrong and come back to God he is there and willing and ready to welcome us back with open arms. Another example of this is the Prodigal son.

So, I did not realize this book was this interesting or that we could gain so much from studying it. We can see how the Lord views us by seeing how Hosea views Gomer. The love that God gives us even in letting us live our bad choices until we come back to him and realize we cant do it on our own. We need Him.

Study this book if you have a Bible like I do it has commentary and helps you understand exactly what you are reading. So far we have just done the first two chapters I hope the rest of the book is this interesting.

I love learning new things about the Bible. I feel like if I am not growing I am going backwards. I want to know more and more so that I can learn better how to serve the Lord.