Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Now this is what the Lord says to the family of
Israel:
“Come back to me and live!
Don’t worship at the pagan altars at Bethel;
don’t go to the shrines at Gilgal or Beersheba.
For the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile,
and the people of Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”
Come back to the Lord and live!
Otherwise, he will roar through Israel like a fire,
devouring you completely.
Your gods in Bethel
won’t be able to quench the flames.
You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed.
You treat the righteous like dirt.
Don’t worship at the pagan altars at Bethel;
don’t go to the shrines at Gilgal or Beersheba.
For the people of Gilgal will be dragged off into exile,
and the people of Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”
Come back to the Lord and live!
Otherwise, he will roar through Israel like a fire,
devouring you completely.
Your gods in Bethel
won’t be able to quench the flames.
You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed.
You treat the righteous like dirt.
It is the Lord who
created the stars,
the Pleiades and Orion.
He turns darkness into morning
and day into night.
He draws up water from the oceans
and pours it down as rain on the land.
The Lord is his name!
With blinding speed and power he destroys the strong,
crushing all their defenses.
the Pleiades and Orion.
He turns darkness into morning
and day into night.
He draws up water from the oceans
and pours it down as rain on the land.
The Lord is his name!
With blinding speed and power he destroys the strong,
crushing all their defenses.
Amos 5:4-9(NLT)
Amos was a simple man, a shepherd from a small village. God called him to go to the leaders of Israel
and proclaim the impending disaster that would happen to God’s people if they
didn’t change their ways.
The short story is that they didn’t listen, but lived
to wish they had. Israel’s disobedient
ways courted and married disaster.
In America our contemporary love affair with self is on
a frightening parallel with ancient Israel.
Some of the signs:
· Blatant disregard for life (abortions,
murder, euthanasia)
· Widespread disdain for God, evidenced
by
precipitous decline in worship
attendance
· Eroding of respect for marriage and family
as central to culture
· Anger unchecked
In the midst of Amos’ prophetic lament over the
impending demise of Israel comes the hopeful entreaty of a God who always loves: “Come back to me and live!”
For America, and for each of us individually, the call
to come
home still stands.
Undoubtedly, what also still stands is the threat of
judgment for those who will not heed the call; a raging fire of recompense at a
time, and in the way God chooses.
God help us to be obedient.
For You Today
According to the latest U.S. census, as of the beginning
of this year, you are one of 322,762,018[ii]
souls in our country. How can one person
do anything
being a small fish in such a tremendous pond?
Well, you
may not be able change everything…but you can come home to Godly
living! And it just might catch your
neighbor’s eye. And it might affect your
neighbor.
And…by the
way…your neighbor has neighbors too.
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