SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/11/2015
10:08 PM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 Woe to
the Indulgent
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Amos 6:3-7
Message
of the verses: “3 Do you put off the
day of calamity, And would you bring near the seat of violence? 4 Those who
recline on beds of ivory And sprawl on their couches, And eat lambs from the
flock And calves from the midst of the stall, 5 Who improvise to the sound of the
harp, And like David have composed songs for themselves, 6 Who drink wine from
sacrificial bowls While they anoint themselves with the finest of oils, Yet
they have not grieved over the ruin of Joseph. 7 Therefore, they will now go into exile at the head
of the exiles, And the sprawlers’ banqueting will pass away.”
In our study of these ancient
prophets we have seen that they continue to tell the people of both kingdoms of
Israel that judgment was coming, but they will not believe it. There are a couple of reasons why they did
not believe it, and for one it had to do with being God’s chosen people. In Judah they did not believe it because of
the covenant that God had made with David, and there is also another reason and
that has to do with the false prophets who were actually tickling the ears of
the leaders telling them what they wanted to hear. They were all complacent leaders, which would
lead to their doom. We see that God’s
idea was in Amos 9:10 “"All the sinners of My people will die by the
sword, Those who say, ’The calamity will not overtake or confront us.’”
Dr. Wiersbe writes “Amos described
their indulgent way of life—a way of life that left no place for the
disciplines of the spiritual life. They
were living for pleasure not for the glory of God. The common people usually slept on mats
placed on the ground, but the wealthy enjoyed the luxury of beds of ivory and
luxurious couches. They also used ivory
to decorate their mansions (3:15).
Excavations in Samaria have led to the discovery of the ‘Samaritan
Ivories,’ fragments of beautiful ivory carvings that once adorned their houses
and furniture.”
We can also see that the wealthy
enjoyed feasts as they were eating lamb and also steaks and were drinking wine
and they would have used expensive perfumes.
This was not the case of the poor as their diet was different along with
where they lived.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “There’s
certainly nothing wrong with enjoying good food or good music, provided the
things of the Lord are uppermost in your heart.
David designed and made musical instruments, but he used them to praise
the Lord. Abraham was able to prepare an
elegant feast for his guests (Gen. 18:1-8), and the Lord didn’t rebuke him. But the sin in Amos’ day was that ‘they
[were] not grieved for the affliction of Joseph [Samaria]’ (Amos 6:6).
We will continue looking at these
verses in our next SD.
10/11/2015
10:25 PM
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