God proclaimed judgement against Israel because they had turned from him to idols. Amos warned the nation to discern between true and false worship, or they would die.

God sent prophets to Israel with a message of trusting God rather than lifeless idols. Like Israel, we are only faithful when we trust the one who is in fact providing for us.

To what extent should we involve God in the decisions of our lives? Where we seek hope and advice shows what our hearts trust.

God is the same God forever: His love and attributes do not change. God's exposure of Israel's sin is relevant to us because we are susceptible to forgetting God too.

God looks at His people with a view that they are His marriage partner, and therefore idolatry is adulterous. God wants His people to give Him exclusive affection.

True love says that we do as God pleases; false love says that we do as we please. If we are to understand what love is, we must understand who God is, for He is Love.

In the book of Hosea, God describes his relationship with Israel as that of a husband and wife. But in chapter 4, God is bringing a legal charge against them because they have compromised with idols, and now have no relationship with Him at all.

Love is knowing who God is. We can only offer true worship if we know the true God; and to know Him is to love Him.

The relationship between Hosea and Gomer is symbolic of the relationship between Israel and Yahweh. In chapter two, we read of Israel's betrayal, and God's promise of restitution.

How does God see love, and how should we understand and respond to that love? God's love is a love that will not leave us as we are, but desires to perfect us.