The Everyday Prayer

RE Verse reading–Amos 1-2 (day six)  “And they will hammer their swords into plowshares. . .never again will they learn war”  (Isaiah 2:4)  Part of God’s judgement on the nations is for their behavior in war.  Amos called out Damascus for the cruelty to “thresh Gilead with sledges having iron teeth”.  (vs 3)  He condemned Ammon for “ripping open pregnant women to extend his borders”. (vs 13)  Is our world different?  When the negro spiritual sang “I ain’t gonna study war no more” it was a confession that we do. . .study war.  Much of our research is toward better weapons.  Many of our private thoughts are justifications for continued fear/anger toward our enemies.  Sometimes war is just and necessary, but the Christian heart must never surrender the hope that the cruelty of war will someday cease and the world will know the Prince of Peace.  Friend, does your heart break with the report of every new atrocity?  Do you feel angry?  God does.

RE Verse reading–Amos 1-2 (day five)  “For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back my WRATH”  (vs 6, chapter 2)  For those of us schooled on John 3:16, it is a strange word.  Not as rare as we may think, but unfamiliar none the less.  Wrath translates the Hebrew word pequddah which means “visitation”.  It speaks of the day when God comes for a painful, corrective reckoning.  Amos is very aware of this gathering wrath.  He declares God’s hatred for things that DESTROY.  Cruelty in war (1:3)  Broken promises of brotherhood (1:9)  Injustice to the poor (2:7)  He also declares God’s hatred for things that DISTRACT.  “I hate your religious feasts. . .away with the noise of your songs, but let justice roll down like a river and righteousness like a never-failing stream.”  (5:21-24, next week’s lesson)  With a clear vision for the potential of the human race, God rightfully hates the things that destroy or distract us from His high holy purpose.

RE Verse reading–Amos 1-2 (day four)  “For three sins of Damascus, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath”  (vs 3)  One of the expressions of God’s mercy is His patience with us.  He does not act in response to our first sin.  Not the second or third.  He waits. The specific numbers may change but the attribute doesn’t.  Ultimately,  out of holiness and love (for others if not for us), He reaches a point where He must act.  “The man who remains stiff-necked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed without remedy” (Proverbs 29:1) Our comfort?  He reaches this point slowly.  “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger”  (Exodus 34:6)  From this truth we learn two things.  1) Whenever He does discipline us, we MORE than deserve it.   2) While He waits we have an opportunity to repent.  God’s mercy is real.  His patience is proof.  May we be fast to repent because He is slow to anger.

RE Verse reading–Amos 1-2 (day three)  “The words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa–what he saw concerning Israel two years before the earthquake” (vs 1)  The Amos story is extraordinary.  Not because he is different than we are.  Just the opposite.  He is the “poster child” of ordinary life.  He is a “little bit country”, but learns truth and courage from God that catapults him into kingdom service.  As a shepherd, I suspect Amos had some initial hesitation.  No seminary training.  Perhaps he felt the sting when Amaziah treated him with disrespect and kicked him out of the country (chapter 7)  The extraordinary thing?  He didn’t give up!  He went back to Tekoa and wrote his message down.  The first prophet to do so.  The door into a new era.   Irrepressible!  Martin Luther said, “A simple layman armed with scripture is to be believed above a pope or a council without it.”  I think Amos would have agreed.  Extraordinary!

RE Verse reading–Amos 1-2 (day two)  “This is what the Lord says, ‘for three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath” (vs 6)  It is an old trap–seeing the sins of others but not our own.  The people who listened to Amos enjoyed the first part of his sermon better than the last.  For several minutes, he listed the sins of the neighboring nations. Nodding heads and amens.  Finally, he came to the real point–the sins of Israel.  The wrath of God is a strange subject.  Most of us feel like it is uncalled for where we are concerned.  Aren’t we different?   The Bible says no.  “There are no distinctions“, says Paul as he develops this same theme in the book of Romans.  “For ALL have sinned (past tense) and fall (present tense) short of the glory of God”  (Romans 3:22-23)  Forgivness is possible, but blindness to sin in ourselves is the deepest blindness of all.

RE Verse reading–Amos 1-2 (day one)  “The Lord roars from Zion” (vs 2)  “A lion has roared!  Who will not fear?”(Amos 3:8)  Ever hear a lion roar?  I have a friend who makes regular trips to Africa to hunt.  He says if you ever hear a lion roar in the wild (not having the assurance that he is in a cage) you will NEVER forget it.  He say it is bone-chilling to realize that you are not just hunting him, HE IS HUNTING YOU!   Amos knew.  The first words in his book, repeated later in chapter 3,  paint a verbal picture of a God whose holy wrath has finally reached a crisis.  He roars to warn us of danger.  He roars to call us to repent.  Does God ever reach such a moment with His own people?  Are we exempt from such holy/hard discipline?  Amos says no.  “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked.”  (Galatians 6:7)  THE Lion has roared!  Anyone listening?

RE Verse reading–Matthew 28:16-20 (day seven)  “and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age”  (vs 20)  Sometimes I feel overwhelmed.  As a Pastor, a father, a husband, a citizen.  The darkness seems so deep.  My stength seems so inadequate.  It is not an unhelpful moment! As strange as it seems to self-absorbed, self-sufficient people, feeling powerless is often the beginning of a new/better chapter.  In Matthew 28, Jesus spoke words to shift the disciples’ focus from themselves (and their challenges) to Himself.  “I will be with you always”, He said.  The lesson was Christ-confidence.  The same Lord who walked on the water and healed blind eyes and answered angry Pharisees promised (then and now) , ” I am with you when death comes”.  “I am with you are weary”. ” I am with you when you fail others and yourself”.  “I will stay near”.  What a great comfort!  What a great Savior!. . . for us who are sometimes overwhelmed.

RE Verse reading–Matthew 28:16-20 (day six)  “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying. . .Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations”  (vs 18-19)  I just have one question.  Why?  Why would God choose to involve us in saving the world?  Why would He vest frail fallible folks like us with such a responsiblity?  Ok, that is three questions, but you get my point.  It is for our benefit!  Mountain climbers could save time and energy if they reached the summit by helicopter.  They would, however, not learn anything.  The point for climbing mountains is to test character and learn courage.  So with us.  If we are to become like the Savior we must be involved with His work–every decision, every failure, every heart-broken prayer.  The reason God uses us to reach/teach the world is that He is continuing to reach/teach us.  We are a force for good in the world. . .for His glory and our own good.

RE Verse reading–Matthew 28:16-20 (day five)  “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”  (vs 18)  Jesus Christ is the center of Christianity.  In a complicated and hostile world, He is our only confidence.  With eyes on Him, we experience progress and peace.  With eyes are on ourselves, defeat and fear.  Before the disciples were commissioned to reach the nations, Jesus directed their attention to Himself.  His astounding claim was that all authority had been given to Him.  Not only power, but permission to exercise it.  On earth and in heaven too.  Jesus believed that the Father had, as promised, “crowned Him with glory and honor” (Hebrews 2:9)  If He had ever been a “candidate”, He was no longer.  By decision and declaration of God the Father,  the Son was now the legal owner and ruler of all things.  To resist would be treason.  Amazing!  Before we hear the Great Commission, we must hear the Great Claim.

RE Verse reading–Matthew 28:16-20 (day four) “All authority has been given to me. . . go and make disciples. . .I am with you always”  (vs 18-20)  Long live the King.  As Americans we probably miss the meaning of such words.  We don’t have a King nor understand the hope expressed.  A good King is great government.  If he is wise and strong and fair, almost nothing is better.  Matthew 28 is the declaration of a living King.  “I am alive forevermore” (Revelation 1:18)  He lives, and by His own choice does so and through the lives of His people.  “As the Father has sent me so send I you”  (John 20:21)  A dead church cannot speak authentically of the Risen Savior. ” A non-missionary church never has much of Christ’s presence” (Alexander Maclaren) There is no place for hesitation or fear.  All authority is now His!  We are commanded to make disciples!  He is with us as we do!  Long live the King!