Amos 5-6: The Day of the Lord

Woe to you who long
   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

Amos 1-4: Prepare to Meet Your God

“Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel,
   and because I will do this to you,
   prepare to meet your God, O Israel.”
 He who forms the mountains,
   creates the wind,
   and reveals his thoughts to man,
he who turns dawn to darkness,
   and treads the high places of the earth—
   the LORD God Almighty is his name.  - Joel 4:12-14

There are two kinds of judgment from God.  There is the judgement of the sinners, those who don't know him, those who often refuse to know him or acknowledge that he exists.  Then, there is the judgement of God's people.  The ones who should have a deep knowledge of him, of his power, of his might.  Unfortunately, through the years, as it did with the Israelites, that knowledge of God gets watered down and he becomes our possession more than we become his.    He is our God who gets us out of tight places.  He is our God who heals us.  He is our God who works on behalf of our latest whim.  He is our God.  We give him our tithes. We give him our offerings. We worship him in word if not in deed.  Is that enough?

God has judgement planned for the unrighteous.  They are not his people.  But, when God's people sin, when they slowly drift away from him, they will bear the consequences as well.  Initially, they may bear it individually, but eventually, as with the children of Israel who drifted so far from God, they will bear it collectively.  How would our lives be different, if we heard these words today, 'Prepare to meet your God.?

2010 Post - Amos 1-4:  The Lion Has Roared

Joel 1-3: Rend Your Heart

 Rend your heart
   and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
   for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
   and he relents from sending calamity. - Joel 2:13 NIV

In ancient times, it was a sign of despair to tear one's garments; to take off the cloak one was wearing and rip it so it was unwearable.  The prophet Joel is saying it is our heart that should be shredded.  What does it mean to have our hearts torn up?  Would that make us become tender hearted, having our heart torn to pieces?  Is that what we need?  If our heart is torn, would we care more for others than for ourselves?  If our heart is torn, would we care more for the things of God than for the things of the world?  If our heart is torn, would we care?

2010 Post  - Joel 1-2:  The Day of the Lord is Great, It is Dreadful
Joel 3:  The Valley of Decision

Hosea 12-14: The Ways of the Lord

 Who is wise? He will realize these things.
   Who is discerning? He will understand them.
The ways of the LORD are right;
   the righteous walk in them,
   but the rebellious stumble in them. - Hosea 14:9 NIV

If ever we needed someone who is wise, it is now.  Perhaps it has always been that way.  There have always been rulers and kings, prophets and seers, but there are few who could have been said to be truly wise.  Answers and solutions, there are plenty of those to go around.  Laws and regulations, they abound.  Platitudes and promises, when will we have enough?  When will we confess that we don't have all the answers?  When will we realize that being in a questioning frame of mind, waiting on God for the answers is where we are to be, is the place where we are the safest, is the place where we have rest?

'Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden', Jesus said, 'and I will give you rest.'  (Matt. 11:28) He never said, come to me and give me the right answer.  He said that all of our work, all of our efforts, are labors that grind and pull us down.  They place a burden on us that is too heavy to carry.  Our work no matter how holy, no matter how much it is meant to glorify God, does not build us up.  It doesn't provide satisfaction, it doesn't provide peace, it doesn't provide the answer.  Only one provides all of that and he's waiting for our questions, not our answers.  He's waiting to give us, not be given to.  Only the ways of the Lord are right, only his ways.  If we're wise we will realize that all we need are the questions.  We will run to him for his answer instead of being so hasty to provide our own.

2010 Post - Hosea 12-14:  Who is Wise?

Hosea 9-11: What is Righteousness?

Sow for yourselves righteousness,
   reap the fruit of unfailing love,
and break up your unplowed ground;
   for it is time to seek the LORD,
until he comes
   and showers righteousness on you. - Hosea 10:12 NIV

I wish I knew the definition of righteousness.  I know that I don't have it.  As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one; (Romans 3:10 NIV)  I also know that it is, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5 KJV). I know that we have  a limited view of righteousness if we think it is only good living.  I know that most of us have the self-righteous part down, but are missing something when it comes to being righteous.  That's obvious from the fruit which we are reaping which is not the fruit of unfailing love.  I know that I still have a lot of unplowed ground in my life, all those fields and leftover patches of hard places where I let no one else enter, especially God.  I think that breaking up all of that hardness may have a lot to do with righteousness.  I think that righteousness is a matter of the heart, of how vulnerable we are to God more than what our outward actions would imply.  I know that I want God to shower righteousness on me, so I still have a lot of work to do.

2010 Post - Hosea 9-11:  Sow for Yourself Righteousness

Hosea 5-8: A Burnt Offering

Your love is like the morning mist,
   like the early dew that disappears.
Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets,
   I killed you with the words of my mouth;
   my judgments flashed like lightning upon you.
For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
   and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. - Hosea 6:4-6 NIV

We forget that God sees all.  He looks beyound our words and promises and sees how faithful we are in heart and deed. Empty promises and acctions can't buy God's love. Empty offerings, empty worship, empty devotion, he sees through it all.  Over and over again, if you look closely, you can see what God requires: Mercy, justice and mercy, and a relationship with him.  A real relationship, not one as Hosea says, like the morning mist that disappears, but a lasting, abiding relationship, one that cannot be shaken, one that is reflected by our lives. God's very own son, provided a way to the Father, but what are we doing with that access.  Are we using it for our own self interest, or to please him?  Are our lives full of mercy and acknowledgement of God.  Anything else we would offer God is just rubbish, hay wood and stubble, a burnt offering.

2010 Post - Hosea 5-8:  Reap the Whirlwind

Hosea 1-4: Trembling to the Lord

The LORD said to me, “Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.”
 So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live with you.”
 For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol.  Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days. - Hosea 3:1-5 NIV

How broken and miserable Hosea must have been.    Was he as miserable as those men who were willing to share the wife of another man?  Was he as miserable as his wife who sold herself to other men for a few trinkets?

There is no life more miserable than one separated from the only one who truly loves you.  None.  Surrounded by gifts from those who would buy you, you realize one day that amidst the flowers and perfume, gold and precious stones, gifts from those who would have you but only to use, surrounded by all they have given you, you have nothing.  You have given all you have and you have nothing left.  When you come to the end of yourself, like the Israelites, who have lived many days in exile, without king or prince, only then, can you come trembling to the Lord and to his blessings. 

2010 Post - Hosea 1-4:  Adultery Personified