Category: Minor prophets
Pride and grudges destroy a nation!
Scripture reading for September 17th: Obadiah
Jacob and Esau were twin brothers. Esau was the first-born and Jacob came out holding onto his brother’s heel. A spiritual conflict ensued that caused these brothers and their descendants to be in a struggle that lasted for hundreds of years. Jacob got Esau’s birthright for a bowl of soup. (Genesis 25:32-34) Jacob stole his brother’s blessing from their father Isaac with the help of their mother Rebekah. Esau was furious and held a grudge against Jacob, plotting to kill him. (Genesis 27:41) Jacob fled to Paddan Aram, to Laban’s house to find a wife. (Genesis 28:1-3) Esau had upset his parents by marrying Hittite women who were idolaters! (Genesis 27:44) So this conflict between two brothers smoldered like a fire, particularly in the heart of Esau!
Over 500 years later, Obadiah the prophet was sent with a message for Esau’s descendants. They had become a nation that was dwelling next to Israel but still held a grudge! They had pride that their own strength would make their way. (Obadiah 3-4) They had violence in their hearts against their brother Jacob and stood aloof while Jacob was under attack. (Obadiah 10-12) They had looked down on their brothers when they were being overtaken by foreigners and rejoiced over their misfortune rather than helping defend them. (Obadiah 12-14) God’s message was that Edom would reap what they had sowed and their pride would result in the destruction of the House of Esau! (Obadiah 15-18)
We can all learn from this sad story! A grudge held can infect a family which can eventually destroy a nation of people. Esau’s grudge was never fully dealt with! Esau’s focus on his own needs, appetites, and personal pride caused his family and eventually a nation that came from him to dwell in pride. This pride and despising of their brothers resulted in God’s judgment and their destruction! Unforgiveness is just as dangerous for us today! It will isolate us from our family and open us up to the enemy of our souls. It will cut us off from God’s grace! Jesus Christ died to heal our broken family ties and restore us to God’s family! Take time today to ask for God’s mercy and forgiveness! Humility always defeats pride’s death traps!
Famine in the land!
Scripture reading for September 16th: Amos 8-9
“The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land–not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.” Amos 8:11-12
We are so blessed in America! We have nearly 360,000 churches across our land. In our city of Owensboro and surrounding area, there are nearly 200 churches to choose from for a population of about 110,000. About 12-15% of those attend a church each week, a high number compared with other parts of our nation. We have services broadcast on television, cable, internet, and radio each day of the week. Christians should be out in the community sharing their faith and the word of the Lord each day. Access to Bibles is not restricted here either, and, indeed, most households have more than one.
Amos lived and ministered among a people who were religious and went to church each Sabbath day to hear God’s word! They had prophets who spoke to them regularly. To come into the adult world of that day, children had to memorize the Books of Moses before their thirteenth birthday. How can a person or people have the word of the Lord and still have a famine?
When we ignore the Lord Himself and disrespect the light that we have from Him, we go into darkness that is deeper than before! These people had the truth and willfully rejected it! This brought God’s wrath and judgment on them. This should be a strong warning to us today in America! To whom much has been given, much will be required!
God’s mercy was evident even in the dire prophetic writings of the prophet Amos. (Amos 9:8-10) God promised restoration after the shaking of judgment. He promised to restore the nation again and plant them in the land that He gave to them. (Amos 9:11-15) God’s goodness to a stubborn people is amazing! It should draw us to repentance and faithful love again! (Romans 2:4) Take advantage of the blessing of having God’s word as your living bread! Eat and be satisfied!
The prophet and the plumb line!
Scripture reading for September 15th: Amos 6-7
“This is what He showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb, with a plumb line in His hand. And the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?” “A plumb line,” I replied. The the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.” Amos 7:7-8
Amos had received a series of visions from the Lord about the coming judgment on the nation. The first vision concerned a swarm of locusts stripping the land clean. (Amos 7:1-3) Amos interceded for the nation and the Lord relented. The second vision concerned a judgment by fire on the nation and Amos again interceded and the Lord relented. Believers prayers are powerful!
The third vision was about a plumb line and a wall that was built true to plumb. A plumb line is a line of string with a pointed weight on the bottom. It is held up near a wall and shows clearly if the wall is perpendicular or not. The more out of plumb, the more the wall is in danger of collapsing.
The wall that was built true to plumb was the nation of Israel. God had “squared” them away and put His law as a plumb line in their midst to keep them straight. The people, however, refused to love God and obey His law. He was their builder and maker and lived in their midst. He sent prophets to drop the plumb line and Amos had been sent to warn them of their complacency and materialism. (Amos 6:1, 4-6) They were living lives of luxury, feasting, and drinking, but had forgotten the God!
Amos got the left foot of fellowship by King Amaziah. He was told not to speak any more in Israel but to go back to Judah where he came from! (Amos 7:12-13) A positive response to Amos and his message would have brought the people back into proper alignment. This time the wall would fall! (Amos 7:16-17)
How is the wall of your life? Is the plumb line of God’s truth being dropped regularly alongside of it? Are you listening and reading and heeding God’s word? Today is a good day to straighten up and make the necessary changes!
Prepare to meet God!
Scripture reading for September 13th: Amos 3-5
Amos, a country preacher, used plain language! Country people don’t usually beat around the bush. They call it like it is. I imagine that Amos made a few people pretty mad! For instance, in Amos 4:1 he calls the women of Samaria “cows”. These women were likened to the well-fed cattle of Bashan, a farming area east of the Sea of Galilee. These women were demanding drinks from their husbands and were oppressing the poor and needy while they enjoyed an abundance. Amos promised them that God’s punishment was on the way.
Amos told the people to go up to Bethel and sin. They were religious and brought offerings that they boasted about. God had tried to correct them and get their attention, but to no avail! (Amos 4:6, 9, 11) The final call was for them to prepare to meet their God! (Amos 4:12) Amos then took up a funeral lament for Israel as if she had died and met God! (Amos 5:1-3)
What was Amos’ remedy for these hardened religious people? He told them to seek the Lord and live! (Amos 5:8-9) Their God had power that should be feared and He should be revered! They were to seek good and not evil. God eternally hates evil and his wrath is always against it. (Amos 5:14-15)
Amos reproved this religious people again for saying that they longed for the day of the Lord! He told them that it would be a day of darkness, not light for them! (Amos 5:18) It would be like a man fleeing from a lion, only to meet a bear. These people were going through the motions and God hated their songs, festivals, feasts and offerings! He wanted justice and righteousness that resulted from His people living by faith in the fear of the Lord! (Amos 5:24)
As we listen to this farmer-preacher, we hear truth spoken in plain language. The times he lived in are a lot like ours. Are we sure we are seeking the Lord with our hearts, and not just words and ritual? Do we hate evil and love good! Are we working for justice and help for the poor. The day of the Lord is coming! We must be prepared to meet our God!
“. . . prepare to meet your God, O Israel.” Amos 4:12b
Sin’s destructive fire!
Scripture reading for September 12th: Amos 1-2
Fire is a devastating force when not properly controlled and utilized. I was a young and had started farming with a small hog herd and had about 25 sows (mother hogs) with their babies in a building. It was winter time and we were using heat lamps and furnaces to keep the hog building warm. One of the lamps must have fallen onto the straw, and a blaze erupted that swept through the building. While helping my uncle shell corn, I remember hearing the call to come home from my distraught aunt. “There’s a fire in the hog house!” I arrived home to find a flaming building and some charred animals!
Amos was a fig (not pig!) farmer and shepherd who was called to be a prophet. (Amos 7:14-15) The reading today contains several warnings of “fire in the house!” These warning were to nations and peoples surrounding Israel. I imagine God’s people were cheering as their wicked neighbors were warned by God. (Amos 1:4, 7, 10, 14; Amos 2:2) God is no respecter of persons and Amos also warned Judah and Israel that they also had fire coming to their houses as well! (Amos 2:4-16)
Sin brings God’s wrath and fiery judgment. God hates sin because it is totally foreign to His nature of love. Sin brings destruction, anguish, and great eternal loss to those made to enjoy His blessing and glory! But our God is very merciful! He always warns His people of their sins and provides a way of escape for them. (1 Corinthians 10:13) He wants no one to perish but all to come to repentance and deliverance. (Amos 3:7)
Our nation is saturated with the gospel! We have more churches, preachers, and radio and television preaching than anywhere else in the world. The gospel warns people that there is ‘fire in their house’ and provides a Savior who took the fiery wrath of God against our sin. The gospel offers us a new form of fire in our house, the precious Holy Spirit! This ‘fire’ is redemptive and empowering to the humble and teachable. It gives us power to live free from sin and to warn those who have the wrong kind of fire. Take time today to thank the Lord for His mercy and His wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit!
Valley of Decision!
Scripture reading for September 11th: Joel 1-3
“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars no longer shine. The Lord will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem; The earth and sky will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for his people; a stronghold for the people of Israel.” Joel 3:14-16
I remember September 11th, 2001 very vividly! It was a day that stunned our nation and cost the lives of thousands of innocent people in the twinkling of an eye. What was worse, was that we got to watch it in living color right before our eyes. I was in the surgery waiting room visiting a patient when I saw the plane fly into the building. Smoke and fire exploded and people were running everywhere. It seemed that the world had been turned upside down.
Joel was a prophet of God who spoke to God’s people during a terrible plague of locusts. (Joel 1:4) God used this locust plague to speak to his people of their coming judgment if they failed to repent. (Joel 1:13-14) Joel called God’s people to fasting and prayer. The ‘day of the Lord’ was near.
The custom for fasting was to put on sackcloth and sprinkle ashes on their heads. The people were called to cry out in weeping before God, mourning for their sins. But God was after something else. He desired a broken and contrite heart! (Psalm 51:17) (Joel 2:13) From a truly broken heart, they were to say, “Spare your people, O Lord.” (Joel 2:17)
The answer from God to this fast was an outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the whole land! (Joel 2:28-32) (Acts 2:14-21) There would be signs and wonders in the earth among God’s people, young and old, men and women! This would happen right before the ‘day of the Lord’! Everyone who would call on God would be saved! (Joel 2:32, Romans 10:13)
Joel ended with a vision of the coming ‘day of the Lord’. Joel saw multitudes of people gathered in the valley of Jehoshaphat. There God entered into judgment against the nations that rejected Him. (Joel 3:1-2) But God will be a refuge for His people! Whose side will you be on?
Sin will bring you down!
Scripture reading for September 10th: Hosea 12-14
“But I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt. You shall acknowledge no God but me, no Savior except me. I cared for you in the desert, in the land of burning heat. When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot Me. Hosea 13:4-5
For people who have been saved from sin, God’s love initially seems so good that following Him is our heart’s delight. God is good and moves us from poverty into a new realm of abundance and true soul satisfaction. In the completion of this book of Hosea, God told how his once faithful and thankful people became satisfied and promptly forgot Him. The source of this forgetfulness was none other than pride which became their downfall! (Hosea 13:6) (Hosea 14:1)
Pride is the sin that caused Satan’s downfall from the highest heavens. Satan desired to be like the Most High and to sit on the throne of God. God’s abundant blessing on his life in making him beautiful brought out iniquity. (Ezekiel 28:1, 14-17) He was cast down from heaven’s glory to earth. Satan’s sin of pride was his downfall and now he tempts man made in God’s image to forget God and His grace in our lives!
“Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall! Take words with you and return to the Lord. Say to Him: “Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously; that we may offer the fruit of our lips.” ” Hosea 14:1-2
God’s mercy is toward those whose sins have taken them down! Hosea gave a wonderful altar call for repentance. We can offer Him nothing but ourselves and our words. Repentance restores the flow of His love. It is so simple, yet hidden from the rebellious! Check your heart and attitude today and ask God to expose any pride that could be your downfall.
“I will heal their waywardness and love them freely; for my anger has turned away from them.” Hosea 14:4
“Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them.” Hosea 14:9
Un-plowed Ground
Scripture reading for September 9th: Hosea 9-11
“Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until He comes and showers righteousness on you. But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception.” Hosea 10:12-13a
When I was younger, we would often plow under red clover that was sowed along with the oats crop. Red clover would produce nitrogen that would make the corn grow better the next year. The dirt turning over and the smell of that fresh soil was special. Usually a flock of seagulls would follow the plow to pick up worms and a chicken hawk would scout out scampering mice as they ran down the furrow. At night, coyotes and foxes would also come out and find rodents running in the furrows.
Hosea’s illustration was not about plowing dirt, but about the soil of hearts that had grown hard and had not produced a crop in a long time. The ground had to be broken up to receive the seed in hope of a crop. The sowing had to change, too. Instead of wickedness, false promises, lawsuits and idolatry, the people needed to sow a crop of righteousness so they could reap unfailing love. (Hosea 10:4-5, 12)
God often takes the weeds of our lives and uses them to become fertilizer for a good crop. For instance, if we were delivered from a life of drugs and drunkenness, we are able to minister to those who are bound by those habits. Someone else might have struggled with sexual temptations and upon breaking up their fallow ground, the old habits enable that person to minister to others who have similar strongholds. The plow has to be put to the hardened and overgrown ground to prepare it for the crop of righteousness.
Hosea encouraged the people to seek the Lord until He showered righteousness on them. We must ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking until the answer and crop comes. Prayer keeps an open line with the Lord and keeps our ground broken and ready for a crop of righteousness. A broken and contrite heart, He will not despise! (Psalm 51:17)
Reaping the whirlwind!
Scripture reading for September 8th: Hosea 7-8
“Woe to them, because they have strayed from Me! Destruction to them, because they have rebelled against me! I long to redeem them but they speak lies against Me. They do not cry to me from their hearts but wail upon their beds. They gather together for grain and new wine but turn away from Me.” Hosea 7:13-14
“They sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind.” Hosea 8:7
God longed to redeem His people but they continually rebelled against Him. Thieves broke into houses and bandits robbed on the streets. The land was full of adulterers and the princes were drunk on wine. They spoke evil of their rulers and did not call on the Lord. They were arrogant and unresponsive as they went about their business of sinning.
On top of all the usual sins, they chose their leaders without the consent of the Lord! They cried out to the Lord as if they wanted to know Him, but their hearts were far from Him! Hosea stated that Ephraim had built many altars for sin offerings but they became altars for sinning! (Hosea 8:11) God had given them His law but they rejected it by choice. God had no choice but to send fire of judgment on their cities. (Hosea 8:14)
As we read these sad words, we think about the church in America. Many who name the name of Christ are involved in adultery with those who are not their married partners. They watch every sort of perversion and go to church on Sunday without ever asking God for mercy. They choose their rulers without ever consulting God or His Holy Word to find out if He would approve of their moral conduct and political decisions. With their lips they acknowledge God, but their hearts are far from Him! Some claim to love God and yet get drunk or high on drugs regularly. Others lie, cheat and do violence with gossip, yet claim a relationship with God.
God loves us. Just as Hosea took back his adulterous wife, God will take us back. We must not just cry on our beds, but honestly take responsibility for what we have done and turn to Him for mercy. If we want to avoid the whirlwind, we must stop sowing the wind!
Ignorance is not bliss!
Scripture reading for September 6th: Hosea 4-6
“Hear the word of the Lord, you Israelites, because the Lord has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: “There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the Land. There is only cursing, lying, and murder, stealing and adultery. . .” Hosea 4:1-2a
“You stumble day and night, and the prophets stumble with you. So I will destroy your mother–My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of Your God, I will also ignore your children.” Hosea 4:5-6
Hosea’s message to God’s adulterous people told them that they were unfaithful and unloving to Him. They failed to keep His commandments, which was a sign of love in the Old Testament and the New! (John 15:9-10) Hosea told the priests that they had rejected the knowledge of God’s word. When we reject or ignore God’s clear commandments, there are terrible consequences for us and our family as well!
God’s people are no different today! We are all called to be priests and kings before Him! (1st Peter 2:9-11) We are to show forth His praises by being a royal priesthood and a holy nation. When we curse, lie, steal, and commit adultery and murder, we are rejecting and ignoring our wonderful lover and faithful Father! These sins cut off our fellowship with God and also put stumbling blocks in front of our children who see our bad examples. (Hosea 4:5)
Our nation is stumbling today because of the failure of God’s people to live by the Word. Whole denominations of Christians are calling homosexuality practiced by their clergy acceptable before men and God! Many who call themselves Christians vote to put those in office who will keep on murdering our children through abortion. We have been unfaithful and are in peril not because we lack knowledge, but because we have rejected knowledge and ignored the laws of our God!
Repentance and faith are the only routes back from the perils we are discussing. If you have not lived your life according to God’s word, repent and ask Him to cleanse you. He is loving and merciful! Pray for our nation and ask God for mercy! Only repentance can keep us from stumbling into destruction! (2nd Chronicles 7:14)