SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 8/26/2015
10:59 PM
My Worship Time Focus: Judgment on
Israel
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Amos 2:6-16
Message of the
verses: “6 Thus says the LORD,
"For three transgressions of Israel and for four I will not revoke its
punishment, Because
they sell the righteous
for money And the needy for a pair of sandals. 7 "These who pant after the very dust of
the earth on the head of the helpless Also turn aside the way of the humble;
And a man and his father resort to the same girl In order to profane My holy
name. 8 “On garments taken as pledges they stretch out beside every altar, And
in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.
“9 “Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite
before them, Though his height was like the height of cedars And he was strong
as the oaks; I even destroyed his fruit above and his root below. 10 “It was I
who brought you up from the land of Egypt, And I led you in the wilderness
forty years That you might take possession of the land of the Amorite. 11 “Then
I raised up some of your sons to be prophets And some of your young men to be
Nazirites. Is this not so, O sons of Israel?" declares the LORD. 12 “But
you made the Nazirites drink wine, And you commanded the prophets saying, ’You
shall not prophesy!’ 13 “Behold, I am weighted down beneath you As a wagon is
weighted down when filled with sheaves. 14 “Flight will perish from the swift,
And the stalwart will not strengthen his power, Nor the mighty man save his
life. 15 “He who grasps the bow will not stand his ground, The swift of foot
will not escape, Nor will he who rides the horse save his life. 16 “Even the
bravest among the warriors will flee naked in that day," declares the
LORD.”
One may think that both Israel and Judah were doing
poorly during this time when the prophet Amos declares that God would judge
them, but that was not the case as they were living prosperously during this
time, and perhaps that is the most dangerous time, for when you are living
prosperously you tend to forget the Lord and depend upon your own resources. Another thing to remember is that Israel and
Judah both thought that when they were doing good that it was the Lord who was
blessing them. Jesus also came across this
idea while on earth as even His disciples questioned Him when he spoke to the
rich man who was lost, but His disciples did not believe this for they though
the more you had the better that God was blessing you, and the less you had
meant that the Lord was cursing you. Dr.
Wiersbe writes the following endnote: “Under
the Mosaic Covenant, God promised to bless His people if they obeyed His law
but to remove His blessing if they disobeyed (Deut. 27-28). However, the people forgot that God often
blessed them in spite of their sins so that He might be faithful to His promises
to Abraham and David. In His love and
long-suffering, God sent them messengers to call them back to obedience; but
they refused to listen. ‘Because sentence
against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons
of men is fully set in them to do evil.’ (Ecc. 8:11).”
In tonight’s SD we
will look at only a portion of this section as it is a long set of verses to
unfold. We want to first look at their
sinful present and three flagrant sins.
In verses 6-7 we will see that the people of Israel’s sin were
injustice: “6 Thus says the LORD,
"For three transgressions of Israel and for four I will not revoke its
punishment, Because
they sell the righteous
for money And the needy for a pair of sandals. 7 "These who pant after the very dust of
the earth on the head of the helpless Also turn aside the way of the humble;
And a man and his father resort to the same girl In order to profane My holy
name.” When we were looking at both
Jeremiah and then Ezekiel we have seen that the rich were causing the judges to
support them and this was making it very difficult for the poor who these corrupt
judges were judging against. The poor
did not even have enough to have a pair of shoes. They were trampled to the dust as Amos
writes. Dr. Wiersbe writes “As we shall
see in our continued studies, the Prophet Amos has a great deal to say about
caring for the poor (see. 4:1; 5:11; 8:6; also Deut. 15:7-11; Ex. 23:6-9; Prov.
14:31; 17:15).
8/26/2015 11:24 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment