Archive for month: April, 2020

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Amos 9:1-15.  Let’s go!

Amos 9:1-4 (NIV) 
1  I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said: “Strike the tops of the pillars so that the thresholds shake. Bring them down on the heads of all the people; those who are left I will kill with the sword. Not one will get away, none will escape. 
2  Though they dig down to the depths of the grave, from there my hand will take them. Though they climb up to the heavens, from there I will bring them down. 
3  Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, there I will hunt them down and seize them. Though they hide from me at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent to bite them. 
4  Though they are driven into exile by their enemies, there I will command the sword to slay them. I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.”
 
On verses 1-4:  You can’t escape God’s wrath, unless God in His mercy decides to let you escape.  Aren’t you glad and aren’t we fortunate that God in His mercy decided to let sinners like us escape His wrath by placing His wrath on His Son Jesus instead?
 

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Amos 8:1-14.  Let’s go!

Amos 8:1-3 (NIV) 
1  This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: a basket of ripe fruit.
2  “What do you see, Amos?” he asked. “A basket of ripe fruit,” I answered. Then the LORD said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
3  “In that day,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “the songs in the temple will turn to wailing. Many, many bodies–flung everywhere! Silence!”

On verses 1-3:  Amos sees a vision of a ripe fruit basket signifying that the time is ripe for God to judge the nation of Israel.  Verse 3 is, according to Amos, what the wrath of God against sin sounds like.  Although verse 3 reads like a line that could be spoken by a villain in a Marvel comic book, remember who the real bad guys are in this story: it’s us, the ones who turned our backs on God despite all the ways He has been kind, patient and merciful toward us.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Amos 7:1-17.  Let’s go!

Amos 7:1-6 (NIV) 
1  This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king’s share had been harvested and just as the second crop was coming up. 
2  When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, “Sovereign LORD, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!” 
3  So the LORD relented. “This will not happen,” the LORD said. 
4  This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: The Sovereign LORD was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land. 
5  Then I cried out, “Sovereign LORD, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!” 
6  So the LORD relented. “This will not happen either,” the Sovereign LORD said.
 
On verses 1-6:  Amos sees two visions.  The first is of the Lord preparing to destroy Israel with a locust plague (v1-2).  The second is of the Lord preparing to destroy Israel with a fire (v4).  Upon seeing each vision Amos stands in the gap and cries out to God to have mercy on Israel (called Jacob), and God hears Amos’ prayer — “so the Lord relented” (v3, 6).  It’s a similar scene to when Abraham pleads for the city of Sodom in Genesis 18:16-33.

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Amos 6:1-14.  Let’s go!

Amos 6:1 (NIV) 
1  Woe to you who are complacent in Zion, and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria, you notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the people of Israel come! 

On verse 1:  Amos addresses the complacent and prideful leaders of two kingdoms: the southern kingdom of Judah (referred to here as “Zion”) and the northern kingdom of Israel (referred to here as “Mount Samaria” since Samaria was the capital city of Israel).  The leaders of Israel in particular had a lot of pride, seeing themselves as the greatest men of the greatest nation (“notable men of the foremost nation” (v1)).  What can we learn from this?  When you are in a position of influence or affluence, you must be especially careful not to let pride poison your perspective.
 
Amos 6:2 (NIV) 
2  Go to Calneh and look at it; go from there to great Hamath, and then go down to Gath in Philistia. Are they better off than your two kingdoms? Is their land larger than yours?

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Amos 5:18-27.  Let’s go!

Amos 5:18-20 (NIV) 
18  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. 
19  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. 
20  Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light– pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?

On verses 18-20:  Many people in Amos’ day were giving God regular offerings and sacrifices, but would carry on lifestyles of sin in other ways.  They would talk about the “day of the Lord” (i.e. the day when God comes to His people and establishes His kingdom) as a happy time for them.  According to some scholars, verse 18 is the earliest reference in the Bible to “the day of the Lord”.  Amos clarifies that the Israelites should not look forward to the day of the Lord. For that day will “be darkness, not light” (v18, 20), a day when you think you have escaped the trials of this world, only to be destroyed by the greatest trial of all.  This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, rather than in the Lord.