“You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.

Some of the best assurances and warnings of the strength of the Almighty Lord is to understand His tough love policy for those who stray. It is still and always will be love because God is love. A squishy pushover love it is NOT, because God has enough power to destroy and correct what He made on the largest stage, and save, in the smallest behind the scenes moment. Therefore we must be tapped into the love of healing and knowledge of good and evil. 

He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns midnight into dawn and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land – the Lord is his name.

Surely, the wayward chosen people of Israelites and Judah-ites were needing the reminder of compliance, as Amos the prophet gave. And so are we – to be reminded to stay devoted. The saved remnant of folks, from the tribes of Jacob, were described like a burning stick snatched from the fire, saved just in time. 

We now in life still fraught with society going every which way, should be thankful for we are in the boat with Jesus and able to say: “Lord, douse me with your LIVING WATER”…

God’s love never fails and unlike unfaithfulness waywardness which relies on crumbling human-invented paths, “those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground”, God’s love and God’s ability is the STRENGTH of the whole SYSTEM.  God’s righteousness and God’s justice will root out evil at the time of the harvest. Therefore let us be in the system of good, of devotion, of love, and share the fruitfulness from our watered souls, living as God’s love ‘through us’, not just ‘to us’.

Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.

Let us all keep living and loving. Pray to walk with the God Who is with us.

Amen

—

Amos 4:11 – Amos 5:17

“You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.

“Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God.”

He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth – the Lord God Almighty is his name.

A Lament and Call to Repentance

Hear this word, Israel, this lament I take up concerning you:

“Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up.”

This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Israel:

“Your city that marches out a thousand strong will have only a hundred left; your town that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left.”

This is what the Lord says to Israel:

“Seek me and live;

do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.”

Seek the Lord and live,

or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire; it will devour them, and Bethel will have no one to quench it. There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground.

He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns midnight into dawn and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land – the Lord is his name.

With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin. There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth. You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins.

There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil.

Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph.

Therefore this is what the Lord, the Lord God Almighty, says: “There will be wailing in all the streets and cries of anguish in every public square. The farmers will be summoned to weep and the mourners to wail. There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst,” says the Lord.