Amos 4:1-6:14; Revelation 2:18-3:6; Psalm 130:1-8; Proverbs 29:21-22
Hey! How fun for me! I get to write posts on
both of my sisters' birthdays! Happy birthday, Mary!
Our reading today, both Old and New Testaments, shows us two paths. Two outcomes that result from a choice: seek the Lord and live, or endure the day of the Lord.
Amos reveals the perils of rebellion and/or self-reliance. Amos 5:18-20 gives a vivid image of how dreadful it will be to fall into the hands of an angry God. This day will bring judgment and justice; those who think they are safe will discover their security is false. They move from one danger to a greater one. Their trust in wealth, their trust in foreign nations, their trust in their own lip-service -- all will prove meaningless. Their unwillingness to turn and repent will be their downfall. They have chosen wrath over mercy.
Though writing to the early churches, John expands this idea to communicate Jesus' concern over complacency: "If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what time I will come to you" (Rev. 3:3). This warning is the flip side of his admonishment earlier in that same verse. "Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent." If the exhortation is ignored, the consequence comes.
What an invitation lies before the hearers of Amos, the readers of Revelation, and us today! The Lord entreats us all to "seek [him] and live" (see Amos 5:4,6), to remember and obey. What good things are before us. One path leads to death or to a lack of thriving; the other, to abundant life. All we have to do is seek the Lord.
And what a God he is to seek. I love the reassurance of Psalm 130. This is the God to whom we can turn. How wonderful that our God does not keep a record of sins! Who, truly, could stand? "But with you there is forgiveness, therefore you are feared [honored, revered, worshipped]" (Ps. 130:3-4). The following verses speak of God's unfailing love, of the full redemption he freely offers. He even promises that "he himself will redeem Israel [and us, too!] from all their sins" (vs. 8). Israel's future tense "will" has become our present tense restoration because of Jesus' birth, death, and resurrection 2,000 years ago. All that love and forgiveness and redemption is currently ready for us to receive.
Oh, what good things the Lord has in store for us. Praise the Lord.
Our reading today, both Old and New Testaments, shows us two paths. Two outcomes that result from a choice: seek the Lord and live, or endure the day of the Lord.
Amos reveals the perils of rebellion and/or self-reliance. Amos 5:18-20 gives a vivid image of how dreadful it will be to fall into the hands of an angry God. This day will bring judgment and justice; those who think they are safe will discover their security is false. They move from one danger to a greater one. Their trust in wealth, their trust in foreign nations, their trust in their own lip-service -- all will prove meaningless. Their unwillingness to turn and repent will be their downfall. They have chosen wrath over mercy.
Though writing to the early churches, John expands this idea to communicate Jesus' concern over complacency: "If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief and you will not know at what time I will come to you" (Rev. 3:3). This warning is the flip side of his admonishment earlier in that same verse. "Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent." If the exhortation is ignored, the consequence comes.
What an invitation lies before the hearers of Amos, the readers of Revelation, and us today! The Lord entreats us all to "seek [him] and live" (see Amos 5:4,6), to remember and obey. What good things are before us. One path leads to death or to a lack of thriving; the other, to abundant life. All we have to do is seek the Lord.
And what a God he is to seek. I love the reassurance of Psalm 130. This is the God to whom we can turn. How wonderful that our God does not keep a record of sins! Who, truly, could stand? "But with you there is forgiveness, therefore you are feared [honored, revered, worshipped]" (Ps. 130:3-4). The following verses speak of God's unfailing love, of the full redemption he freely offers. He even promises that "he himself will redeem Israel [and us, too!] from all their sins" (vs. 8). Israel's future tense "will" has become our present tense restoration because of Jesus' birth, death, and resurrection 2,000 years ago. All that love and forgiveness and redemption is currently ready for us to receive.
Oh, what good things the Lord has in store for us. Praise the Lord.
- Sarah Marsh
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