I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
Amos has two visions of destruction. After each one he pleads with God not to do it. In each case, God responds to Amos’ plea and tells Amos that He will not bring about that destruction. Then God gives Amos a vision showing God measuring a wall with a plumb line to see if it was straight (from top to bottom, not as it ran along the ground). God told Amos that He would measure Israel with a plumb line to see if they were righteous. He told Amos that He would no longer ignore Israel’s sin. God was going to bring Jeroboam’s dynasty to an abrupt end. How do we measure up against the plumb line of righteousness? Do we stand straight, or are we crooked?
Amos utters a prophecy against those who rob the poor. He says that they are impatient for the end of Sabbath days and religious festivals so that they can get back to cheating the poor. They use dishonest measures and fixed scales. They adulterate food with things that are harmful to health. God told Amos that He was going to bring a time of judgment on them. He was going to bring famine on the land, but not famine of food. Rather God was going to bring a famine of His word. People will search for the word of the Lord and be unable to find it. When I read this I thought of all the businesses today that do not think they can be closed on Sunday, or on Holidays. I think of the stores that opened on Thanksgiving Day to get a jump on Christmas sales. Then I thought about how many places where you used to get exposed to God’s word in this country where it is no longer allowed. We regularly hear stories about a school forbidding a student to talk about God. I regularly hear trained ministers and leaders in Church bodies who deny the validity of some, or all, of scripture. In many ways we have a famine of God’s word in our country today. There are many seeking to find God’s word who are having trouble finding it. Let us plant a new crop and water it with prayer.
Today I read the messages to the last two of the seven churches. The message to the church in Philadelphia begins by saying that it is from the one who has the key of David. What He opens cannot be closed, what he closes cannot be opened. The church in Philadelphia is told that God (or Christ, in this passage it makes no difference) has opened a door for them that no one can close. He knows that they have little strength, yet even so they have obeyed God’s word and remained faithful. They are commended for persevering and told that for this they will be spared from the coming time of great testing. Do I persevere despite my weakness? Do I acknowledge that I am weak? I pray to God that He grant me the strength to persevere. I strive to acknowledge that I am weak, that my only hope to hold on is for God to give me strength. Let me see the door that God has opened for me and go through it in order to serve Him.
The final message is to the Church in Laodicea. It is in many ways the most scathing and probably the most applicable to the church in the U.S.. They are condemned for being neither hot nor cold, for being indifferent. They are a rich church that is convinced that they have all they need. This sounds like all too many Christians in the U.S., myself included. All too often I allow my Christian walk to become stale. Let me turn from my tendency to indifference so that I may become an enthusiastic disciple of Christ. Either a burning hot coal that sets hearts on fire for Him, or a cool drink of water that provides refreshment and relief to those who are suffering. I know that He is standing at the door and knocking, I will open it and let Him in. I will let Christ take over my life and use me to His ends.
Let me follow the example of the psalmist and not be proud or haughty. Let me not concern myself with matters great and awesome. Rather I ask that God calm and quiet me as a child weaned from its mother’s milk. Prepare me, my Lord, to eat the meat of instruction that You put before me. Teach me to follow in Your ways and undertake the tasks which You give me. I will put my hope in the Lord.
What a perfect proverb to follow up on today’s psalm. If we are proud, we will be humiliated. Instead let us humbly acknowledge our limitations so that we may be honored.