Amos 1:1–4:5, Acts 8:26–9:19, Job 19:13–29
Amos was a farmer called to be a prophet. Judah and Israel
(God’s people divided into two nations) were prospering, but had slid into
idolatry and corrupt practices. Amos denounced this, but first he spoke about
God’s punishment planned for the pagan nations around them.
This judgment on their neighbors concerned things that
anyone would consider sin. The people of Damascus “threshed Gilead” and would
be sent into exile. The people of Gaza had taken “a whole people” into exile
and God would send fire; they would perish. The people of Tyre did something
similar and would receive the same punishment. The Ammonites “ripped open
pregnant women” so as to conquer more territory. Moab did other
atrocities. Both would lose their leaders to exile and death.
As for Judah, the Lord
said: “For
three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,
because they have rejected the law of the Lord,
and have not kept his statutes, but their lies have led them astray, those
after which their fathers walked. So I will send a fire upon Judah, and it
shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.” (Amos 2:4–5)
Judah rejected God’s law, yet Israel’s sins are described
in great detail, also contrary to the revealed will of God. For both nations, their
punishment would be like the other nations, but their transgressions were
described according to their relationship and obedience to God. All these
nations broke the laws of God, but the Lord did not seem to expect pagan
nations to obey them in the same way He held His own people accountable.
This reminds me of an error often made today; Christians
expect unbelievers to do the will of God. Have we not learned that we ourselves
cannot do anything apart from faith and an abiding personal relationship with
Jesus Christ? I know I cannot. How could I expect others who do not have faith
or Christ in their lives to behave in godly ways?
Job also had experience with judgment, not from God but
from his family and friends. He said, “My breath is strange to my wife, and I am a
stench to the children of my own mother. Even young children despise me; when I
rise they talk against me. All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I
loved have turned against me. My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh, and I
have escaped by the skin of my teeth. Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you
my friends, for the hand of God has touched me!” (Job 19:17–21)
Job knew that God was involved in his dire circumstances,
but he was positive he was not being punished. Even though he could not
understand what was happening to him, he could say this: “Oh that my
words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book! Oh that with an iron
pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever! For I know that my
Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin
has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for
myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!”
(Job 19:23–27)
Job was certain of his eternal destiny, and certain that
God was doing all this for a reason. He told his judging ‘friends’ that they
needed to watch out for themselves: “If you say, ‘How we will pursue him!’ and, ‘The
root of the matter is found in him,’ be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings
the punishment of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment.”
(Job 19:28–29)
If this could happen to him without reason, then they
should not judge him; God could easily judge them for what they were doing to
him! This is another lesson for me. I must not be harsh and judgmental toward
Christians who are in trouble. What do I know about the purpose of God for
them?
The NT gives me even more to think about. Philip
encountered a man reading from Isaiah who wondered about its meaning. Philip hopped
into the man’s chariot, began with this Scripture and “told him the good news about
Jesus.” They came to some water, and the man wanted to be baptized. This
indicated that he believed what he had read and heard. From this, I see that
using the OT to point to Jesus Christ is extremely helpful in bringing someone
to faith in Him. (Acts 8:35–38)
The next chapter is about the conversion of Saul (Paul).
He was on his way to Damascus. Suddenly a light from heaven shone around him.
And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul,
why are you persecuting me?” From this encounter with Jesus, he was told what
to do and “for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.”
(Acts 9:3–9) Then a man named Ananias was sent to him. He laid his hands on him
saying, “Brother
Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent
me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
With that, “something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then
he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened.” (Acts
9:17–19)
Even the great Apostle Paul was at one time blind to spiritual
things, so blind that he though killing Christians was God’s will. But God closed
his physical eyes and then opened them, showing that only by His power can anyone
really see (or hear) what He is doing. Ananias could have tried to talk in into
the truth, but he simple did what God told him to do and a persecutor was
turned into a child of God.
From this, just one important truth for me: quit always trying
to figure things out and simply trust God and do what He tells me to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment