Title: I'm Back! (Amos 2:9~16)
Contents
Although the ultimate goal of our religious life is not to receive blessings, it does not mean that it is wrong to ask God for blessings. We should pray for God's guidance and help for the blessing of health, the blessing of wealth, the happiness of our family, and the prosperity of our business.
God wants His beloved children to be blessed with this kind of life.
In Numbers 6:24-26, we read, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face to you and give you peace.” ”, and in Jeremiah 29:11, there is a saying, “I know the thoughts I have toward you, saith the Lord, for peace and not for evil.”
Nevertheless, what is the reason that we do not receive and enjoy God's blessings in our lives but rather experience God's discipline and scourge?
You can discover the reason through today's text.
Through the Amos Bible, God repeatedly says that He will judge the people of Israel, and the reason for that judgment is recorded in today's text.
God brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt.
And he led them and was with them through 40 years of wandering in the wilderness (verse 10).
When they entered the land of Canaan, he himself defeated the Amorite people, as tall as the cedar and as strong as the oak, who had already settled there (verse 9). made you listen to the words of
However, the Israelites made the Nazarites drink wine and prevented the prophets from preaching the prophecy (v. 12). It meant that they would no longer listen to God. They thought that they could eat well and live well without God's help and blessing.
The Israelites despised God's Word and left God.
They refused God's blessing and tried to live on their own.
All that is left of the Israelites is God's discipline and scourge.
As we meditate on these words, we need to look back on ourselves.
Just as he led them out of slavery in Egypt, do we not forget the grace of God who freed us from all bondage of sin through Jesus Christ to us who were living as slaves to sin?
Just as I fed and clothed the Israelites with a pillar of cloud, fire, manna, and quail for 40 years in the wilderness, I forgot the God who was with me and guided my life at every moment of my life and lived with my own strength and power. Didn't you try to go?
Just as God defeated the Amorites, which the people of Israel could not overcome with their own strength, have we not forgotten the countless things that God had personally fought for and solved the difficult and difficult problems in our lives?
So, just as the people of Israel rejected the Nazarites and the prophets, didn't we too listen to the world more than listen to God's word?
We must go back. We must return to the seat of salvation, the seat of God's grace. I have to live my life trusting in that God without ever forgetting that God who saved me from sin, who faithfully joins me in my life today, and who personally solves all problems ahead of time. We must close our ears to the voices of the world and the world, and open our hearts and ears to the Word of God.
I hope that it will be a day to remember God's grace and return to God and restore our relationship with God properly.