SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/9/2015
8:37 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 Woe to the Ignorant
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Amos 5:18-27
Message of the
verses: “18 Alas, you who are longing for the day
of the LORD, For what
purpose will the day of the LORD be to you? It will be darkness and not
light; 19 As when a man flees from a lion And a bear meets him, Or goes home,
leans his hand against the wall And a snake bites him. 20 Will not the day of
the LORD be darkness instead of light, Even gloom with no brightness in it? 21
"I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn
assemblies. 22 "Even though you
offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them;
And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. 23 “Take away
from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your
harps. 24 “But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an
ever-flowing stream. 25 “Did you present Me with sacrifices and grain offerings
in the wilderness for forty years, O house of Israel? 26 “You also carried
along Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun, your images, the star of your gods which
you made for yourselves. 27 “Therefore,
I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus," says the LORD, whose name
is the God of hosts.”
We will focus in on verses 21-24 as we begin this second
message on “Woe to the Ignorant.” Amos
is focusing in on the sins that the people of Israel committed which would make
them totally unprepared to experience the Day of the Lord. In verses 21-22 he will focus in on the
hypocritical worship that they were doing, worship that did not come from their
heart, but from their flesh, things they did to make themselves fell better,
but not confess their sins in order to draw closer to the Lord. Amos mentioned this earlier “"Enter
Bethel and transgress; In Gilgal multiply transgression! Bring your sacrifices
every morning, Your tithes every three days (Amos 4:4).” One of the missionaries that I pray for and
at times give financial support asked for prayer for the young believers in the
country where they minister in as the members of their families are going to
offer some kind of food to worship the spirits of their ancestors. I am sure that like the children of Israel
were doing that they are sincere, but sincerely wrong in their worship.
Next we look at Amos’ second indictment which is seen in
verse 24: “But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an
ever-flowing stream.” Dr. Wiersbe writes
“This is a key verse in the Book of Amos, for it reveals God’s concern that His
people be righteous in their character and just in their conduct. We have already noted the emphasis on justice
in Amos’ messages and how the leaders of the land had turned the pure river of
justice into a poisonous stream (5:7; see 6:12). No matter how much ‘religious activity’ we
participate in, if we don’t’ love our brother and our neighbor, we can’t honestly
worship and serve the Lord.” James
speaks of this along with John in their epistles.
Now lastly we look at verses 25-27, and in these verses
Amos reminded them of their relationship to the Lord after He had delivered
them from Egypt. I have to say that this
past Wednesday I was asked to teach a Bible study and it was on chapters 19-20
of Ezekiel and in the 20th chapter of Ezekiel the prophet goes back
to the history of Israel and one of the things that he brings up is when the
Lord brought them out of Egypt. It is
good to remember the things that the Lord has done for us so that we can
remember how much He loves us and how He continues to take care of us
throughout our lives.
Amos is telling them of the sinful things that their
forefathers had done when the Lord was faithful in taking them out of Egypt,
for while they were at Sinai their forefathers had made the golden calf which
they worshiped while Moses was on the Mountain receiving the 10 Commandments
from the Lord. When Israel was divided
their first king also made calves for them to worship.
Dr. Wiersbe concludes “Where ignorance is bliss,’ wrote
Thomas Gray, ‘tis folly to be wise.’ But
the poet was writing about the naïve innocence of childhood, not to spoil the
joys of children by telling them about the burdens of adulthood. However, in the Christian life, ignorance of
God’s truth keeps us in darkness (Isa. 8:20); so we must understand His ‘word
of prophecy’ that shines as a light in this world’s darkness (2 Peter 1:19).”
10/9/2015 9:00 PM
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