for the day of the LORD!
Why do you long for the day of the LORD?
That day will be darkness, not light.
It will be as though a man fled from a lion
only to meet a bear,
as though he entered his house
and rested his hand on the wall
only to have a snake bite him.
Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light—
pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness? - Amos 5:18-20 NIV
Sometimes I get tired and weary reading the Old Testament prophets. Gloom and doom, that seems to be all they can talk about. It's one thing to slog through the reading, year after year, but what was it like to be living at that time when there seemed to be no hope? The sins of God's people kept getting worse and worse and the prophecies dire and more dire. Anyone with eyes to see could look around and see that circumstances were going downhill. Their lot was getting worse not better. There might be temporary signs of hope, but they vanished like all of the hopes of other generations had done. The enemies grew stronger while they grew weaker. When would it ever end?
They didn't know that there was hope just around the corner. No matter how many times they were told, they didn't really believe that the day of the Lord was coming and while it would be a day of darkness, it would also be a day of light; light that would pierce the darkness. Light that would overcome the darkness. The day of the Lord would come.
2010 Post - Amos 5-6: Let Justice Roll Like a River
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