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In the face of this relentless information storm, this is no time for Christians to give up on reading. We need to equip ourselves to weather this information storm, and The Fellowship of Ailbe wants to help.
Darkness and desperation. Amos 8.9, 10
Amos 8 (4)
Pray Psalm 7.9-11.
Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,
But establish the just;
For the righteous God tests the hearts and minds.
My defense is of God,
Who saves the upright in heart.
God is a just judge,
And God is angry with the wicked every day.
Sing Psalm 7.9-11.
(Finlandia: Be Still, My Soul)
Bring to an end the evil of the wicked,
but let Your righteous ones established be.
You are my shield, my soul will not be stricken;
test heart and mind, my true Defender be.
You are a righteous Judge in every way,
angry at wicked people every day.
Read and meditate on Amos 8.1-10; meditate on verses 9, 10.
Preparation
1. What will happen “in that day”?
2. What is all that meant to suggest?
Meditation
How many ways can God describe the gloom, loss, and despair coming upon the people of Israel? The day that God’s judgment falls, the day when the people are carried away into captivity, will be like a sudden darkening of the earth. All light will vanish as the sun goes out in mid-day. Thick darkness—a symbol of fear and hopelessness—will shroud the heart of every Israelite.
Instead of bawdy feasts in the temples of their pagan gods, the people will mourn and sing songs of lament. They will be dressed in sackcloth, but not because they are repentant, only because misery has become their end. Heads will be shorn—a sign of humiliation and enslavement—and everyone will mourn as if they had lost an only son. They will have lost their freedom, their country, and their identity. Indeed, that day’s end will be full of bitterness.
All these images are designed to help the people of Israel feel the wrath that is coming upon them. The prophet’s burden was always twofold: First, to vindicate the Name of the Lord by telling the people in advance what He was going to do. Just as He promised from as far back as Deuteronomy 14.15ff, God would bring judgment against His ungrateful, disobedient, rebellious people. When it happened to Israel, then He, not they, would be vindicated.
Second, there was always the hope that the people would repent. Seeing what lay ahead and eager to avoid it, perhaps more would repent and find their way to Judah, there to save a remnant of Israel for the future hope of deliverance to be realized in Christ.
This is our message to our own generation. Jesus has borne God’s wrath for our sin. Repent and believe the Good News, lest the wrath of God, that is even now being poured out on the wrong-believing world (Rom. 1.18-32), should come suddenly, terrifyingly, and finally.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
God, in His mercy, continues to warn.
We have been warned.
Unfaithfulness in marriage is often used as a dire example of not only cruelty to one another, but for God’s people’s unfaithfulness to Him through love that’s grown cold and disobedience. Solomon wrote this as a warning to his children; we should hear it as a warning to us: “Therefore hear me now, my children, and do not depart from the words of my mouth. Remove your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house, lest you give your honor to others, and your years to the cruel one; lest aliens be filled with your wealth, and your labors go to the house of a foreigner; and you mourn at last, when your flesh and your body are consumed, and say: ‘How I have hated instruction, and my heart despised correction! I have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined my ear to those who instructed me! I was on the verge of total ruin, in the midst of the assembly and congregation’” (Prov. 5.7-13).
Truly, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Even in laughter the heart may sorrow, and the end of mirth may be grief” (Prov. 14.12, 13).
There is a matter of the heart that God wants us to be aware of; for we can look altogether godly and well-behaved when in fact, our spirits are corrupt to the core. God knows. God sees. He can make that “lightness” dark in the blink of an eye—sundown at noon, the earth dark in broad daylight, celebrations become mourning, nice clothes into sackcloth, lush locks into baldness, mourning for a child, bitterness—total and complete (Amos 8.9, 10).
The people in the church at Ephesus thought they were doing really well, thank you very much. At least outwardly. But God knew better. This is what He saw: “I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.”
Okey-dokey. All is well. But no, wait.
“Nevertheless.” Ah. Now the truth that hurts and convicts.
“I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent” (Rev. 2.2-5). Sundown at noon.
And here is where they fell down on the job—where the outward and the inward diverged.
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22.37-40).
“Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life” (Prov. 4.23).
Love for God, first and foremost, can most assuredly turn “a time to mourn” into a “time to dance” (Eccl. 3.4). We have been warned.
Reflection
1. How would people who know you know that you had not lost your “first love”?
2. What can you do to help your fellow believers keep from straying off the path of love for Jesus?
3. Can we love our neighbors as we should if we lose sight of our love for God? Explain.
This speaks the case of such unjust, unmerciful men, to be miserable indeed, miserable for ever. There shall be terror and desolation every where. It shall come upon them when they little think of it. Thus uncertain are all our creature-comforts and enjoyments, even life itself; in the midst of life we are in death. What will be the wailing in the bitter day which follows sinful and sensual pleasures! Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Amos 8.9, 10
Pray Psalm 7.1-8.
Pray that God will spare His people from wrath through repentance and revival, and that, once we are revived, we will be renewed in our message to proclaim the Good News of Jesus to our world.
Sing Psalm 7.1-8.
(Finlandia: Be Still, My Soul)
O LORD, my God, I trust in You: O save me!
Deliver me from all who seek my life.
If in my hands, You find iniquity,
or any evil, any wicked strife,
then let my foe pursue and overtake me,
and without honor I shall surely be.
Arise, O LORD, rise up in wrath to save me!
Let rage and judgment fall upon my foes!
From all who know You let abundant praise be;
rise up on high; the wicked curse with woes.
O Judge of all, judge now my righteousness
and my integrity, approve and bless.
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Support for Scriptorium comes from our faithful and generous God, who moves our readers to share financially in our work. If this article was helpful, please give Him thanks and praise.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore
In the face of this relentless information storm, this is no time for Christians to give up on reading. We need to equip ourselves to weather this information storm, and The Fellowship of Ailbe wants to help.