SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/19/2015
9:53 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 The
Prophet Struggles
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Amos 7:1-17
Message of the
verses: “The focus title, “The
Prophet Struggles” is the first main point but we will only look at the first
seven verses in chapter seven tonight as we will look at the first sub-point “Struggling
with the Lord from Amos 7:1-9.
As we look at verses 1-17 as a whole we will see that
Amos had two struggles, and as mentioned the first one is his struggle with the
Lord, while the second on is his struggle with the authorities which comes
later on. Being a prophet was not an
easy life as we can see from our study of the OT books and especially the books
of the prophets both major and minor.
For one thing the prophet must stay close to the Lord and then he also
has to deal with the people the he is ministering to. Both Moses and Jeremiah wanted to resign
their duties as a prophet, but they both continued in their work for the Lord
and we are thankful for their great example.
I am not sure if we will get all the way through these first nine
verses, but we will see how far we can get as there are some verses in this
seventh chapter that are a bit difficult to understand.
Struggling with the Lord (Amos 7:1-9): 1 Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and behold, He
was forming a locust-swarm when the spring crop began to sprout. And behold,
the spring crop was after the king’s mowing. 2 And it came about, when it had
finished eating the vegetation of the land, that I said, "Lord GOD, please
pardon! How can Jacob stand, For he is small?" 3 The LORD changed His mind about this.
"It shall not be," said the LORD. 4 Thus the Lord GOD showed me, and
behold, the Lord GOD was calling to contend with them by fire, and it consumed
the great deep and began to consume the farm land. 5 Then I said, "Lord
GOD, please stop! How can Jacob stand, for he is small?" 6 The LORD changed His mind about
this. "This too shall not be," said the Lord GOD. 7 Thus He
showed me, and behold, the Lord was standing by a vertical wall with a plumb
line in His hand. 8 The LORD said to me, "What do you see, Amos?" And
I said, "A plumb line." Then the Lord said, "Behold I am about
to put a plumb line In the midst of My people Israel. I will spare them no longer. 9 “The high
places of Isaac will be desolated And the sanctuaries of Israel laid waste.
Then I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.’”
As mentioned it is difficult to be a prophet and Amos was
struggling with the fact that God was about to bring His judgment upon His
people even thought I believe that down in his heart Amos knew that God was
doing the right thing. We read eleven
times in chapters 7-9 the words “The Sovereign Lord” or “The Lord God” which
speaks of God being sovereign, for God does control history. Dr. Wiersbe writes “The prophet saw three
visions of judgment and responded to them.”
We will begin to look at these three visions in this SD, and as I said
see how far we get, for it seems to me that what we will learn here is at best
controversial to some who read this section of Amos.
In verses one through three we see the vision of the
locusts and these locusts are poised to attack the second crop late in the
summer, and as Dr. Wiersbe writes “after the king had take his share. This was the farmers’ last chance for a
harvest, and the harvest would be destroyed.
The summer heat on its way, and there would be no more chance for a crop. Being a man of the soil himself, Amos would
sympathize with these farmers.”
As we look at this first vision that Amos had we must see
that it was the Lord who controlled the locusts and it was the Lord who was
going to send them on the fields of His people to destroy their crops. Dr. Wiersbe writes these important words “Amos
joined that select group of intercessors which included Abraham (Gen. 18),
Moses (Ex. 32; Num. 14), Samuel (1 Sam. 12), Elijah (1 Kings 18), and Paul (Rom.
9:1-3; 10:1-12).”
We have seen this type of thing when we studied Joel “12 "Yet
even now," declares the LORD, "Return to Me with all your heart, And
with fasting, weeping and mourning; 13
And rend your heart and not your garments." Now return to the LORD
your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in
lovingkindness And relenting of evil. 14 Who knows whether He will not turn and relent And
leave a blessing behind Him, Even a grain offering and a drink offering For the
LORD your God? (Joel 2:12-14).”
The following is an end note from Dr. Wiersbe that should
care for the “so called” problem that we see here in this section of both Joel
and Amos. “The Bible often uses concepts
to describe divine actions or emotions, such as God resting (Gen. 2:2),
grieving (6:6), clapping His hands (Ezek. 21:17), laughing (Ps. 2:4), and
writing (Ex. 31:18). When God ‘relents’
(‘repents’ KJV), it doesn’t mean that He made a mistake and has to change His
mind. Rather, it means that He maintains
His intentions but changes His way of working.
A good illustration is found in Jeremiah 18:1-17).” I will quote this example that Dr. Wiersbe
sites: “1 The word which came to
Jeremiah from the LORD saying, 2 "Arise and go down to the potter’s house,
and there I will announce My words to you." 3 Then I went down to the
potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. 4 But the
vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he
remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. 5 Then the
word of the LORD came to me saying, 6 “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with
you as this potter does?" declares the LORD. "Behold, like the clay
in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. 7 "At one moment I might speak concerning
a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot, to pull down, or to destroy it;
8 if that nation against which I have
spoken turns from its evil, I
will relent concerning
the calamity I planned to bring on it. 9
"Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or
concerning a kingdom to build up or to plant it; 10 if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My
voice, then I will think better of the good with which I had promised to bless
it.
“11 "So now then, speak to the men of
Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, ’Thus says the LORD,
"Behold, I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan against
you. Oh turn back, each of you from his evil way, and reform your ways and your
deeds."’ 12 “But they will say, ’It’s hopeless! For we are going to follow
our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his
evil heart.’ 13 “Therefore thus says the LORD, ’Ask now among the nations, Who
ever heard the like of this? The virgin of Israel Has done a most appalling
thing. 14 ’Does the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the open country? Or is
the cold flowing water from a foreign land ever snatched away? 15 ’For My people have forgotten Me, They burn
incense to worthless gods And they have stumbled from their ways, From the
ancient paths, To walk in bypaths, Not on a highway, 16 To make their land a desolation, An object of
perpetual hissing; Everyone who passes by it will be astonished And shake his
head. 17 ’Like an east wind I will scatter them Before the enemy; I will show
them My back and not My face In the day of their calamity.’"”
At this point we will end this SD and it is my plan to
look at the last two visions in our next SD on the book of Amos. We will see something similar in the second vision
so the explanation that we just looked at will be the same for that vision.
10/19/2015 10:30 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment