SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/5/2015
3:40 PM
My Worship Time Focus: God Calls
Witnesses
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Amos 3:9-10
Message of the
verses: “9 Proclaim on the citadels
in Ashdod and on the citadels in the land of Egypt and say, "Assemble
yourselves on the mountains of Samaria and see the great tumults within her and
the oppressions in her midst. 10 “But they do not know how to do what is right,"
declares the LORD, "these who hoard up violence and devastation in their
citadels."”
9 Announce
to the forts of Assyria, announce to the forts of Egypt—Tell them, "Gather
on the Samaritan mountains, take a good, hard look: what a snake pit of brutality
and terror! 10 They can’t—or won’t—do one thing right." GOD said so.
"They stockpile violence and blight (Message).”
“2
Listen, O heavens, and hear, O earth; For the LORD speaks, "Sons I have
reared and brought up, But they have revolted against Me (Isaiah 1:2).” It did not get Isaiah long to bring a charge
against the people of Judah as this is only the second verse in his book, and
so Amos speaks to the children of Israel telling them that they have done wrong
against the Lord and even done worse than the Gentile nations have done against
the Lord. Why is it worse? Well let us look at a verse that Paul wrote
to the Corinthians “It is actually reported that there is immorality among you,
and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that
someone has his father’s wife.” Paul
writes this to the church at Corinth and what he tells them is that this sin of
a son living with his step mother was something worse than the Gentiles or unbelievers
would do and because the Corinthians, like Israel had been given light as to
what was right and wrong in the eyes of the Lord it made their sins worse. Those who are given more are expected more.
As
we look throughout the OT and even in the NT we see the tragic news that
believers were being caught in doing sinful things by unbelievers. Abraham did it with his wife Sarah two times
as seen in Genesis 12:10-20 and 20:1 and following. His son followed in his footsteps doing the
same thing as seen later on in the book of Genesis. Samson was surely not a good example to the
unbelievers, and then David’s sin with Bathsheba was not a good example. Dr. Wiersbe writes “In the late 1980s, the
media ministry and whenever a prominent servant of God falls into sin, the news
media seem to enjoy telling the story.”
As
we look at this section of Scripture we see that Amos calls both the
Philistines (Ashdod) and also Egypt to see what the Lord was going to do to
Samaria and this should have been embarrassing to Israel, but it was not.
Amos
writes the tragic news in verse ten that “they do not know how to do right.” They were so caught up in their greed and
also in their idolatry that it was impossible for them to do what was right
proclaims Dr. Wiersbe. He goes on to
write “Like many people today, they were addicted to affluence. They didn’t care that others lacked the
necessities of life so long as they themselves enjoyed luxuries. No wonder there was unrest in the land, for
the possessions of wealth never satisfied the hungers of the heart. ‘To pretend to satisfy one’s desires by
possessions,’ says a Chinese proverb, ‘is like using a straw to put out a fire.’”
I
suppose that it is safe to say that the attitude that both Israel and also
Judah had during this time is the same attitude that the church in Laodicea had
who said that “I am rich and in need of nothing,” but the Lord told them that
they were poor and that they were miserable and needed to buy from Him. “17
’Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have
need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable
and poor and blind and naked, 18 I
advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and
white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your
nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you
may see. 19 ’Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous
and repent. 20 ’Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice
and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with
Me (Rev. 3:17-20).” I have believed that
the seven churches that are found in the book of Revelation are in prophetic
order which makes the dominate church in this age the Laodicean church, which
makes us similar to both Israel and Judah.
9/5/2015 04:09 PM
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