Since we won't have our regular class next week (due to the 50th Anniversary Celebration), we can take two weeks to go through our text for the next lesson. We will be studying Amos and Jonah.
Read Amos 1-2
Today's Devotion - Amos 2:13-16
13 "Now then, I will crush you
as a cart crushes when loaded with grain.
14 The swift will not escape,
the strong will not muster their strength,
and the warrior will not save his life.
15 The archer will not stand his ground,
the fleet-footed soldier will not get away,
and the horseman will not save his life.
16 Even the bravest warriors
will flee naked on that day,"
declares the LORD.
taken from www.biblegateway.com
The first verses of these chapters talk about how God will crush the enemies of Israel. Through a lowly shepherd, He passes along specific sins of the surrounding communities and provides details of their pending demise. I'm sure the Jewish community was thrilled to know that their enemies would soon feel the ominous wrath of God. Can you imagine their excitement as they waited for their evil neighbors to finally get what they deserved.
But then, God continues with his judgment and he turns to Judah and Israel. All of a sudden, the coming tragedy is on their own shoulders. God specifically talks about their sins -- rejection of the law, worshiping false gods, abusing the poor for selfish gain, adultery, and drinking the wine set aside as an offering.
At the end of the prophesy, God must have sensed that his chosen people may have fallen under the assumption that they would be exempt from the destruction -- maybe thinking that they, individually, were too strong to fall when times got tough. So he adds today's passage, warning that regardless of their standing in the community or their expertise as soldiers, they too would fall.
Why is it that we think we are exempt from the consequences of our actions? Despite indisputable evidence showing the negative results, people still smoke, eat the wrong things, and watch another tv show instead of exercising. We rack up credit card bills without believing that we will get into financial trouble like others do. We put off making repairs or doing routine maintenance to our homes and cars, thinking we can eek by without trouble. Then we seem shocked when inevitable results happen and we wonder why God is putting us through such tough times!
Why is it so hard to do the things we know we should do in the first place?
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