(REFLECTIONS ON Amos 7:1-6) God’s judgment was coming down upon Israel in the form of a locust-swarm and an all-consuming fire, and Amos twice interceded for them. 2 And it came about, when it had finished eating the vegetation of the land, that I said,“Lord God, please pardon!How can Jacob stand,For he is small?”3 The Lord […]
(REFLECTIONS ON Amos 6:1-14) In Romans 1:25, Paul writes, 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. This is the fundamental problem with humanity in the face of the God that created all of creation. There is a […]
(REFLECTIONS ON Amos 5:1-27) 3 For thus says the Lord God,“The city which goes forth a thousand strongWill have a hundred left,And the one which goes forth a hundred strongWill have ten left to the house of Israel.” Ten percent. Yes, only ten percent will remain. Doesn’t ten percent remind us of something? Tithe? Yes, tithe, […]
(REFLECTIONS ON Amos 4:1-13) No matter what the Lord did to Israel they would not return to Him. That is the clear theme from today’s Scripture. Five times we read, “Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord. Even when Israel was carried away from the land of their ancestors, the land where the […]
(REFLECTIONS ON Amos 3:1-15) 1 Hear this word which the Lord has spoken against you, sons of Israel, against the entire family which He brought up from the land of Egypt: The Lord does not just have words for those outside His covenant, but also for those in covenant with Him. That is because Israel has […]
(REFLECTIONS ON Amos 2:1-16) Amos now turns to Judah and Israel. For three transgressions of Judah/Israel and four, the Lord says, “I will not revoke its punishment.” If Judah and Israel got any satisfaction from the judgment of the nations, they quickly discovered that the same pattern of wickedness in the nations, was also in their […]
(REFLECTIONS ON Amos 1:1-15) In today’s Scripture, we see a pattern of God’s judgment for the transgressions of the nations surrounding Israel. There is also a repeated phrase used, “For three transgressions of [nation], and for four…” What does this mean? No, it isn’t saying that they did three evil things and it is because of […]
(REFLECTIONS ON Joel 3:1-21) The Lord brought judgment upon Israel through the hand of surrounding nations. However, let’s not mistake this to mean that Israel is now “owned” by these nations. God used these nations to teach His people a lesson, but this was never a “forever” judgment. The lesson for Israel was to learn through […]
(REFLECTIONS ON Joel 2:1-32) As we read the words of the prophets, we really need to go beyond the words and visualize what the prophet is seeing. Words cannot describe fully the overwhelming physical and spiritual vision that a prophet sees. In today’s Scripture, we can visualize a powerful army coming towards Jerusalem. This powerful army […]
(REFLECTIONS ON Joel 1:1-20) In today’s Scripture, the prophet Joel speaks to God’s people regarding the destruction to their land and the resources to sustain life. Interestingly we read over and over again a reference to those things that are dried up. v.10 The new wine dries upv.12 All the trees of the field dry upv.12 […]