Tag: Judgment

Morning Musing: Amos 3:7

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“Indeed, the Lord God does nothing without revealing his counsel to his servants the prophets.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Are you the kind of person who likes to know what’s going on? Some people are go-with-the-flow people. They’re content to just sit back and let life come to them. Some are more of the type-A model. They’re the ones who sit on the top of life and are constantly leaning forward to see what’s coming next. I think I’m somewhere in the middle. I’m definitely not type-A, but I also like to be very well-informed as to what is coming down the pipe at me if I can help it. Surprises aren’t really my thing. That’s why I love what God says here through Amos.

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Morning Musing: Amos 2:9-11

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“Yet I destroyed the Amorite as Israel advanced; his height was like the cedars, and he was as sturdy as the oaks; I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath. And I brought you from the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness in order to possess the land of the Amorite. I raised up some of your sons as prophets and some of your young men as Nazirites. Is this not the case, Israelites? This is the Lord’s declaration.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

Some sins are generational. When I was growing up, my family was within a few days of making our first pilgrimage to Disney World. I remember being upset about something and, standing in our front yard facing the door to the house where my dad stood, I complained that I didn’t have much to be happy about at the moment. He actually didn’t kill me. One of my own boys recently bemoaned how awful his life is. I didn’t kill him either, but reminded him of the many blessings he does enjoy. As a parent, this kind of thing makes you want to scream and pull your hair out. But it also makes you want to throw your hands up and shout, “What?!?!?” That’s a little like what God seems to be feeling here.

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Digging in Deeper: Amos 2:4

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“The Lord says: I will not relent from punishing Judah for three crimes, even four, because they have rejected the instruction of the Lord and have not kept his statutes. The lies that their ancestors followed have led them astray.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

Are you a good test-taker? Or are you someone who tends to freeze up when you are put in pressure situations like that? Your answer here really doesn’t have anything to do with how smart you are. I had good friend in high school who was crazy smart, but who struggled mightily to get a decent score on his ACT because he wasn’t a good test-taker. Okay, but why do they have tests in school? Why not just teach the stuff and move on? Because, like it or not, tests are the best way to hold students accountable for what they should have been learning. Without tests there’s no way to really be sure we’ve learned anything. Holding students accountable for what they’ve learned is important. Judah learns that here the hard way.

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Digging in Deeper: Amos 2:1

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“The Lord says: I will not relent from punishing Moab for three crimes, even four, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever been accused of sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong? We tend to think through our world in terms of spheres of influence and impact. Certain things and people and relationships and ideas are reserved for certain spaces. We recognize that for ourselves and the people around us recognize it for themselves too. And when something that belongs in one sphere begins to cross over into realms that it does not belong, it doesn’t usually get all that friendly of a reaction. What we see here is an example of God doing this very thing. What should we do with it?

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Morning Musing: Joel 3:3

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“They cast lots for my people; they bartered a boy for a prostitute and sold a girl for wine to drink.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

The God revealed in the pages of the Scriptures is a God of justice. Justice is one of a small group of characteristics that are primary for Him. That is, they are the qualities from which His various other character traits can be derived. When it comes to the judgment announced in the prophets, most often they are connected to violations of one of these primary characteristics. This is a perfect example. And when it comes to matters of justice involving children, God takes these particularly seriously.

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