Tag: funeral lament
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
New Mercies each morning!
Scripture reading for August 16th: Lamentations 1-5
Lamentations is a series of five funeral songs about the death of Jerusalem and the captivity of God’s people. This book is helpful to gain insight into the process of grief and helping people deal with death and loss. Mourning people go through stages ranging from disbelief and shock, to mourning and depression, blaming others or God, to quiet acceptance and finally readiness to move on. These stages may take various amounts of time to process. God understands our grief. Jesus was a man of sorrows and familiar with suffering. (Isaiah 53:3)
Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet. (Lamentations 1:16) He had warned the Israelites faithfully of the coming judgment and destruction of Jerusalem. He witnessed this destruction and now was writing to chronicle the grief process. Jeremiah was a lot like Jesus Christ, who wept over the city of Jerusalem as He saw prophetically the destruction that was to come upon it for their rejection of Him as their Messiah. (Matthew 23:37-39) God values tears so much that the Psalmist said He gathers them up in a bottle and records them on a scroll. (Psalm 56:8)
In Lamentations 3, the prophet was recounting his misery and described it with images that bring Isaiah 53 and the crucifixion to mind. In the middle of his lament, his thoughts turned to hope! (Lamentation 3:20-21) The cause of this hope was God’s steadfast love, great compassion and mercy. Jeremiah stated that this mercy was “new every morning”. (Lamentations 3:22-23) The Lord is good to those who wait for Him and put their hope in Him!
This funeral lament ends with words of faith and hope and a prayer. God is sovereign and reigns forever. He would have compassion and restore as they had prayed. Take a moment and offer a prayer of thanksgiving for God’s compassion and renewing mercies. His Son Jesus Christ wept over us and bore our sorrows and tears that we might live in the joy of His love and receive new mercies every morning!
“You, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures from generation to generation. Why do you always forget us? Why do you forsake us so long? Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.” Lamentations 5:19-22