Today's Readings and Stuff -- Saturday, 12 December 2020

Been quiet here today.  Which makes looking around at our world, in the midst of collapse, all too evident.  We will be finding out how strong and sturdy the foundations and framework of that really is.  Strong?  Or molded, rusty, and weak.  Time to pray.  Constantly.

See Psalm 51:12, "Restore to me the JOY of thy salvation".  Yes, joy.  And an enthusiasm for the Lord and of serving Him.  Not much of that enthusiasm is visible, all too often in my life and walk.  Not good.

Song of the day: "On Christ The Solid Rock I Stand". Yes, all else is sinking sand, and we do wrong to put our trust in anything else.  Not kings or kingdoms, not money or connections or nations.  Or judges.  Or traditions.

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AMOS 7

First Vision: Locusts

1The Lord God showed me this: He was forming a swarm of locusts  at the time the spring crop first began to sprout — after the cutting of the king’s hay. 2When the locusts finished eating the vegetation of the land,  I said, “Lord God, please forgive!  How will Jacob survive since he is so small? ” 

3The Lord relented concerning this.  “It will not happen,” He said.

Second Vision: Fire

4The Lord God showed me this: The Lord God was calling for a judgment by fire.  It consumed the great deep and devoured the land. 5Then I said, “Lord God, please stop!  How will Jacob survive since he is so small? ”

6The Lord relented concerning this.  “This will not happen either,” said the Lord God.

Third Vision: A Plumb Line

7He showed me this: The Lord was standing there by a vertical wall with a plumb line in His hand. 8The Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos? ” 

I replied, “A plumb line.”

Then the Lord said, “I am setting a plumb line among My people Israel;  I will no longer spare them: 

9Isaac’s high places  will be deserted,

and Israel’s sanctuaries will be in ruins; 

I will rise up against the house of Jeroboam

with a sword.”

Amaziah’s Opposition

10Amaziah the priest  of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you  right here in the house of Israel. The land cannot endure all his words, 11for Amos has said this: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will certainly go into exile from its homeland.’ ” 

12Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Go away, you seer!  Flee to the land of Judah. Earn your living  and give your prophecies there, 13but don’t ever prophesy  at Bethel again, for it is the king’s sanctuary  and a royal temple.”

14So Amos answered Amaziah, “I was  not a prophet or the son of a prophet;   rather, I was  a herdsman,  and I took care of sycamore figs. 15But the Lord took me from following the flock  and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’ ” 

16Now hear the word of the Lord. You say:

Do not prophesy  against Israel;

do not preach  against the house of Isaac.

17Therefore, this is what the Lord says:

Your wife will be a prostitute in the city, 

your sons and daughters will fall by the sword, 

and your land will be divided up

with a measuring line.

You yourself will die on pagan  soil, 

and Israel will certainly go into exile 

from its homeland.

AMOS 8

Fourth Vision: A Basket of Summer Fruit

1The Lord God showed me this: A basket of summer fruit. 2He asked me, “What do you see, Amos? ” 

I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.” 

The Lord said to me, “The end has come for My people Israel;  I will no longer spare them.  3In that day the temple  songs  will become wailing”  — this is the Lord God’s declaration. “Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere!  Silence! ” 

4Hear this, you who trample on the needy 

and do away with the poor of the land, 

5asking, “When will the New Moon be over

so we may sell grain, 

and the Sabbath,

so we may market wheat? 

We can reduce the measure

while increasing the price 

and cheat with dishonest scales. 

6We can buy the poor with silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals 

and even sell the chaff! ”

7The Lord has sworn  by the Pride of Jacob:  

I will never forget all their deeds. 

8Because of this, won’t the land quake 

and all who dwell in it mourn? 

All of it will rise like the Nile; 

it will surge and then subside

like the Nile in Egypt. 

9And in that day —

this is the declaration of the Lord God —

I will make the sun go down at noon; 

I will darken the land in the daytime. 

10I will turn your feasts into mourning 

and all your songs into lamentation; 

I will cause everyone  to wear sackcloth 

and every head to be shaved. 

I will make that grief

like mourning for an only son 

and its outcome like a bitter day.

11Hear this! The days are coming —

this is the declaration of the Lord God —

when I will send a famine through the land:

not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,

but of hearing the words of the Lord. 

12People will stagger from sea to sea

and roam from north to east,

seeking the word of the Lord, 

but they will not find it.

13In that day the beautiful young women, 

the young men also, will faint from thirst. 

14Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria 

and say, “As your god lives, Dan,” 

or “As the way   of Beer-sheba lives”  —

they will fall, never to rise again. 

AMOS 9

Fifth Vision: The Lord beside the Altar

1I saw the Lord standing beside the altar,  and He said:

Strike the capitals of the pillars 

so that the thresholds shake;

knock them down on the heads of all the people.

Then I will kill the rest of them with the sword. 

None of those who flee will get away; 

none of the fugitives will escape.

2If they dig down to Sheol, 

from there My hand will take them;

if they climb up to heaven, 

from there I will bring them down.

3If they hide themselves

on the top of Carmel,

from there I will track them down 

and seize them;

if they conceal themselves

from My sight on the sea floor, 

from there I will command

the sea serpent to bite them. 

4And if they are driven

by their enemies into captivity, 

from there I will command

the sword to kill them. 

I will fix My eyes on them

for harm and not for good. 

5The Lord, the God of Hosts —

He touches the earth; 

it melts, and all who dwell in it mourn;

all of it rises like the Nile

and subsides like the Nile of Egypt. 

6He builds His upper chambers

in the heavens 

and lays the foundation of His vault

on the earth. 

He summons the waters of the sea

and pours them out on the face of the earth. 

Yahweh is His name. 

Announcement of Judgment

7Israelites, are you not like the Cushites to Me? 

This is the Lord’s declaration.

Didn’t I bring Israel from the land of Egypt,

the Philistines from Caphtor,  

and the Arameans from Kir? 

8Look, the eyes of the Lord God

are on the sinful kingdom, 

and I will destroy it

from the face of the earth. 

However, I will not totally destroy

the house of Jacob  —

this is the Lord’s declaration —

9for I am about to give the command,

and I will shake the house of Israel 

among all the nations,

as one shakes a sieve,

but not a pebble will fall to the ground.

10All the sinners among My people 

who say: “Disaster will never overtake 

or confront us,” 

will die by the sword.

Announcement of Restoration

11In that day

I will restore the fallen booth  of David: 

I will repair its gaps,

restore its ruins, 

and rebuild it as in the days of old, 

12so that they may possess

the remnant of Edom 

and all the nations

that are called by My name   —

this is the Lord’s declaration —

He will do this.

13Hear this! The days are coming —

this is the Lord’s declaration —

when the plowman will overtake the reaper 

and the one who treads grapes,

the sower of seed.

The mountains will drip with sweet wine,

and all the hills will flow with it. 

14I will restore the fortunes of My people Israel.  

They will rebuild and occupy ruined cities, 

plant vineyards and drink their wine,

make gardens and eat their produce. 

15I will plant them on their land,

and they will never again be uprooted

from the land I have given them. 

Yahweh your God has spoken.

 

Today's Readings and Stuff -- Friday, 11 December 2020

 Happy Friday to all.  It's something, I guess.

I'd hoped to get to sit down and create this much earlier today.  Had a good session in the pre-dawn hours, in the dark, just laying there meditating on the Lord and His plans and my directions and failures.  Not comfortable, as is often the case, but meaningful to me.  Much of it centered around the exhortations to do everything as unto the Lord.  That to include some of the "trivial" and "drudgery" stuff.  How do you take out the trash as if doing it for His glory?  Or getting the mail or buying gas or groceries?  But then, we're supposed to be putting Him on display at all times.  ALL times. Hasn't been my most notable success.  Indeed, for much of my life, even those relatively close to me (remembering my introvert nature) haven't really had a clue as to what was going on inside that head, or my beliefs of most kinds.  And I ain't alone.  Lots of us wearing camouflage.  "Safer" you know.  Have I, have many of us, had the level of excitement and energy for the Lord and His glory that we might have had for your football team or the like?  Not good.  What was that song?  "This Little Light Of Mine"?  We've been "hiding it under a bushel", and it hasn't done the world any good.  How will I answer for that?

Wife has been a bit better for most of the day.  Napping now, feeling cold and fevered, but all in all doing better.  Which doesn't translate into "good", but respiration is better and the excruciating pain in the knee is somewhat lessened, a great blessing to be sure.  We'll take it, and hope for further improvement. Would be nice, really.

As a note ref our daily readings, two notes actually.  First, we're heading down to the end of the year and the conclusion of the reading schedule I've been using.  I'm still not certain about the year to come.  I believe firmly in the practice of daily Bible study and several years, like 20-some, ago adopted the "through the Bible in a year" practice.  I still believe in that, noting along with that that it doesn't forbid doing additional more intense study of particular passages and themes.  There are several suggested timetables out there, I used the one put out by the Gideons for several years and am considering doing so again in the year to come.  No firm decision yet.

Along those lines, our daily Old Testament readings have us into the so-called Minor Prophets, and there is a terrible temptation to treat them lightly, even to skip over them.  Please do not do so!  Short they are, compared to, say, Isaiah, but they are meaningful still.  And we're also in the Revelation in our New Testament section.  I have had a policy for several years of never ever commenting on the  Revelation.   I don't feel adequate to the task, and I've spent too many years hearing strongly conflicting interpretations of it.  I agree that it is important (or it wouldn't be there) but it's above my pay grade.  

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AMOS 5

Lamentation for Israel

1Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament,  house of Israel:

2She has fallen;

Virgin Israel  will never rise again. 

She lies abandoned on her land,

with no one to raise her up. 

3For the Lord God says:

The city that marches out a thousand strong

will have only a hundred left, 

and the one that marches out a hundred strong

will have only ten left  in the house of Israel.

Seek God and Live

4For the Lord says to the house of Israel:

Seek Me and live! 

5Do not seek Bethel 

or go to Gilgal 

or journey to Beer-sheba, 

for Gilgal will certainly go into exile,

and Bethel will come to nothing.

6Seek Yahweh  and live,

or He will spread like fire 

throughout the house of Joseph;

it will consume everything,

with no one at Bethel to extinguish it. 

7Those who turn justice into wormwood 

throw righteousness to the ground.

8The One who made the Pleiades and Orion, 

who turns darkness  into dawn 

and darkens day into night, 

who summons the waters of the sea 

and pours them out over the face of the earth  —

Yahweh is His name. 

9He brings destruction  on the strong,  

and it falls on the stronghold. 

10They hate the one who convicts the guilty 

at the city gate

and despise  the one who speaks with integrity.

11Therefore, because you trample on the poor 

and exact a grain tax from him,

you will never live in the houses of cut stone 

you have built;

you will never drink the wine

from the lush vineyards

you have planted. 

12For I know your crimes are many

and your sins innumerable.

They oppress the righteous,  take a bribe,

and deprive the poor of justice  at the gates.

13Therefore, the wise person will keep silent  

at such a time,

for the days are evil.

14Seek good and not evil

so that you may live,

and the Lord, the God of Hosts,

will be with you,

as you have claimed. 

15Hate evil and love good; 

establish justice in the gate. 

Perhaps the Lord, the God of Hosts, will be gracious 

to the remnant of Joseph. 

16Therefore Yahweh, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says:

There will be wailing in all the public squares; 

they will cry out in anguish  in all the streets.

The farmer will be called on to mourn, 

and professional mourners   to wail.

17There will be wailing in all the vineyards, 

for I will pass among you. 

The Lord has spoken.

The Day of the Lord

18Woe to you who long for the Day of the Lord! 

What will the Day of the Lord be for you?

It will be darkness and not light. 

19It will be like a man who flees from a lion 

only to have a bear confront him.

He goes home and rests his hand against the wall

only to have a snake bite him.

20Won’t the Day of the Lord

be darkness rather than light, 

even gloom without any brightness in it? 

21I hate, I despise your feasts! 

I can’t stand the stench

of your solemn assemblies. 

22Even if you offer Me

your burnt offerings and grain offerings, 

I will not accept them; 

I will have no regard

for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle. 

23Take away from Me the noise of your songs!

I will not listen to the music of your harps. 

24But let justice flow like water,

and righteousness, like an unfailing stream. 

25“House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to Me during the 40 years in the wilderness?  26But you have taken up  Sakkuth   your king  and Kaiwan  your star god, images you have made for yourselves.  27So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus.”  Yahweh, the God of Hosts, is His name.  He has spoken.

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REVELATION 10

The Mighty Angel and the Small Scroll

1Then I saw another mighty angel  coming down from heaven, surrounded by a cloud, with a rainbow  over his head.  His face was like the sun, his legs  were like fiery pillars,  2and he had a little scroll opened in his hand. He put his right foot on the sea, his left on the land, 3and he cried out with a loud voice like a roaring lion. When he cried out, the seven thunders spoke with their voices. 4And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write. Then I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders said,  and do not write it down! ”

5Then the angel that I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. 6He swore an oath by the One who lives forever and ever,  who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it: “There will no longer be an interval of time,  7but in the days of the sound of the seventh angel,  when he will blow his trumpet, then God’s hidden plan  will be completed, as He announced to His servants  the prophets.” 

8Now the voice that I heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.”

9So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take and eat it; it will be bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.” 

10Then I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I ate it, my stomach became bitter.  11And I was told,  “You must prophesy again about  many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”