The prophecies of Hosea and Obadiah, along with the other so-called 'Minor Prophets', are all too frequently overlooked by contemporary Christians, and we are much the poorer as a result.

The weakness of the churches in our generation is largely due to our ignorance of the character of God. Nowhere in the Bible is that character more clearly expounded than in the ministry of the prophets. If the church neglects to listen to God's word of self-revelation through them, we shall be condemned to a superficial sentimentalism in our view of God, which will inevitably be blown away, like dust, in the storms of life.

Both Hosea and Obadiah came to teach the unchanging character of the covenant LORD to a deaf and careless people. In the midst of all the uncertainties and unpredictability of the tides of human history, the rock of God's sovereign immutability stands, immovable and totally dominant. That was what God's people needed to know then and it is exactly the same message which Christians today need to hear and heed.