{"id":8529,"date":"2020-04-03T00:00:06","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T07:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=8529"},"modified":"2020-03-29T17:58:08","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T00:58:08","slug":"amos5_18-27","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/amos5_18-27\/","title":{"rendered":"Give God More Than A Song or a Sacrifice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amos 5:18-27\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Amos 5:18-27.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Amos 5:18-20 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n18\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Woe to you who long for the day of the\u00a0LORD! Why do you long for the day of the\u00a0LORD? That day will be darkness, not light.
\n19\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0It 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.
\n20\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Will not the day of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0be darkness, not light– pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?<\/p>\n

On verses 18-20:\u00a0 Many people in Amos\u2019 day were giving God regular offerings and sacrifices, but would carry on lifestyles of sin in other ways.\u00a0 They would talk about the \u201cday of the Lord\u201d (i.e. the day when God comes to His people and establishes His kingdom) as a happy time for them.\u00a0 According to some scholars, verse 18 is the earliest reference in the Bible to \u201cthe day of the Lord\u201d.\u00a0 Amos clarifies that the Israelites should not look forward to the day of the Lord. For that day will \u201cbe darkness, not light\u201d (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.\u00a0 This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, rather than in the Lord.<\/p>\n

For those who trust in themselves, the day of the Lord (the day when Jesus comes again) will be a dreadful day.\u00a0 Only for those who trust in the Lord will the day of the Lord be a joyful one.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Amos 5:21-24 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n21\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.
\n22\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.
\n23\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
\n24\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 21-24:\u00a0 When we insist on living for ourselves and not for the Lord, our token sacrifices and songs can hardly bring God pleasure.\u00a0 As Jesus says in Matthew 15:7-9:
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'”<\/p>\n

God wants more than a song or a sacrifice.\u00a0 God wants our hearts permanently in the form of a life committed to living justly and righteously<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 as Amos writes, a life where \u201cjustice rolls on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream\u201d (v24).<\/p>\n

Amos 5:25-27 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n25\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house of Israel?
\n26\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god– which you made for yourselves.
\n27\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the\u00a0LORD, whose name is God Almighty.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 25-27:\u00a0 Centuries before Amos\u2019 time, the Israelites in the book of Exodus wandered through the desert.\u00a0 Rather than worshiping the Lord, they grumbled against Him and worshiped a golden calf.\u00a0 By mentioning these Israelites from Exodus in verse 25, it\u2019s as if Amos is saying to the Israelites of his own time, \u201cThroughout history nothing has changed with you, Israelites.\u00a0 You\u2019re still making idols for yourselves and worshiping them (v26).\u00a0 Given your stubborn insistence on worshiping other gods, the Lord is sending you into exile and ousting you out of the land He reserved for you (v27).\u201d<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0 Is there an idol you are tempted to worship instead of the Lord?\u00a0 Is it money, status, your family, friends, or a secret obsession?\u00a0\u00a0When we worship the Lord, we find life and take hold of the land God made us to live in (v4), but when we insist on worshiping idols we have made, we forfeit the land that God reserved for us and settle for something far less (v27).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Father, You desire more than a moment\u2019s praise or a token sacrifice from me.\u00a0 You desire a heart that is fully committed to You, to living this life with justice and righteousness.\u00a0 Thank You that by Your grace at work in me, such a life is possible and that with it comes true life in the land You set aside for me.\u00a0 May I live that way by Your grace today.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Amos 5:18-27.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Amos 5:18-20 (NIV)\u00a0
\n18\u00a0\u00a0Woe to you who long for the day of the\u00a0LORD! Why do you long for the day of the\u00a0LORD? That day will be darkness, not light.\u00a0
\n19\u00a0\u00a0It 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.\u00a0
\n20\u00a0\u00a0Will not the day of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0be darkness, not light– pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?<\/p>\n

On verses 18-20:\u00a0 Many people in Amos\u2019 day were giving God regular offerings and sacrifices, but would carry on lifestyles of sin in other ways.\u00a0 They would talk about the \u201cday of the Lord\u201d (i.e. the day when God comes to His people and establishes His kingdom) as a happy time for them.\u00a0 According to some scholars, verse 18 is the earliest reference in the Bible to \u201cthe day of the Lord\u201d.\u00a0 Amos clarifies that the Israelites should not look forward to the day of the Lord. For that day will \u201cbe darkness, not light\u201d (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.\u00a0 This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, rather than in the Lord.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8529"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8529\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8532,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8529\/revisions\/8532"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}