Got this video in my mail and I thank Sherry for sharing it. Wonderful lyrics.
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
... a "Just-a"
It strikes me
that our time isn’t so different from the days of Amos. The rich
oppressed the poor; people had a name of being worshippers of the Lord but
lived according to their idols; arrogance and greed served as a tool for making
the poor slaves and they considered God to be just one among all other
gods they made offers to. Sin is rampant through Israel and the
surrounding nations and God will bring justice and judgment no matter how rich
and safe the people thought they were.
I noticed
that Amos was able to change God’s mind with his intercession for Jacob; God
changed his mind because of the prayer of one person.
I don’t
think I have that in mind every time I pray for other people; sometimes it
feels like nothing will ever change but Amos gives hope.
Read
somewhere on the net that Amos was a “Just-a”. Just a shepherd and just a
man taking care of fig trees. No fancy title or ancestor line. Just-a ordinary
man; at least looking from the outside at his occupation.
But God took him and
gave him an ungrateful task that had to be done and Amos was the man. Even if
he was an unimportant man he could deliver a hard but important message. I
admire the prophets of those days; their patience, and perseverance; qualities
I need loads of.
What a
blessing that God sent Jesus to bring a new covenant and atonement for sin.
What a blessing that there is still forgiveness for us.
Sincerely yours,Ida
Monday, 21 May 2012
Amos- my birthday companion.
Amos has been my special birthday guest today.
Being alone at home and having my day to myself I have listened to the book of Joel, Amos and Obadiah. I stopped and thought about what Amos said and somehow his message seem to fit in our time also .
You can go to
http://www.ganeydn.com/phd/HebrewLettering.html
to se the author of the next image. It is made by Peggy Davis,Calligrapher.
Found her website when searching on the net for more information about Amos.
Sincerely yours, Ida
Sunday, 20 May 2012
Passing through ...
By passing
through I mean just listening and pondering over the time and place and some of the words that are often heard in the books.
I know there
are famous prophesies in Ezekiel and Daniel and some place them in our time and
are sure they will be fulfilled in our lifetime. But this is not what I have
been thinking of.
There is an
on-going love affair between God and his people Israel. God promise; “I have
loved you with an everlasting love” and the object for his tender words turn
her back on him and commits adultery. It’ seems that adultery in the eyes of
God is compared to prostitution. His own people Israel sells herself to idols
of wood and stone; lifeless idols that Israel worship and bring sacrifices to.
They offer their children to Baal by burning them to death. They build altars
to foreign gods and they burn incense to them to get favor with lifeless gods.
Other sins followed, including homicide, perjury, theft, and sexual sin.
They are
warned that their sins will catch up with them and judgment will follow but
nothing seem to get their attention and bondage, captivity and slavery in a
foreign country is the result of their idol worship.
But in God’s
anger there is still love for his people and hope for reconciliation. Sin has
its cost and so has love; but love brings forth forgiveness where sin brings
forth death. There will be a new covenant in Jesus Christ but it will take 400
years of silence after the last prophet has spoken.
Well … I’m
off to the next book ….
Sincerely
yours, Ida
Monday, 14 May 2012
Oh, Jeremiah!
I have passed through the book of Jeremiah and I thought to myself … is there anywhere else in the Bible that I can find so many:
… this is what the Lord says:
… the word that came to
Jeremiah from the Lord:
… this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says:
… this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says:
(well I soon found out that Ezekiel had the same mission to accomplish)
What a life he had, Jeremiah. He was obedient to God
and his obedience brought him one blow after the other. Yet he was calm in the
calamity and he didn’t give in to all the threats and promises of death by his
enemies. Think about it; if you were in his
shoes; receiving a direct word from God for 39 years and every time you spoke
the word of God you gained only hostility
and a reputation as a traitor.
He was strong in God but in his weakest moments “he
expresses regret at ever being born” The words of God was like a fire inside and
he could not keep silent. He begged and pleaded but the people did not repent
and they brought the foretold judgment over themselves.But there was also hope and God would not abandon his people as will be shown i the coming reading of the Old Tetament.
As I opened my Bible to a
random place, it fell open to John 12 and approximately 620 years after
Jeremiah Jesus cries out:
“Whoever believes in me does not
believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. 45 The one who
looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. 46 I have come into
the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in
darkness.47 “If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I
do not judge that person. For I did not
come to judge the world, but to save the world. 48 There is
a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; the very words I have spoken will condemn
them at the last day. 49 For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me
to say all that I have spoken. 50 I know that his command
leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to
say.” John 12:44-50
Jerremiah didn’t speak of his own either but
told everything God told him to say. Jeremiah’s words became a judgment because the
people didn’t listen but continued their worship of baal and murdered their own children. 620 years later
God sent his only Son who spoke only what was given to him from his Father and his
words became judgment or salvation depending on how people received them.
1979 years later Jeremiah and Jesus are still speaking
the word of God to us for judgment or salvation. And as Jesus would say “Whoever
has ears to hear, let them hear”
Sincerely yours,Ida
(image by Michelangelo.)
Monday, 7 May 2012
What happened next?
Jeremiah
39:15
While Jeremiah had been confined in the courtyard of
the guard, the word of the Lord came to him: 16 “Go and tell
Ebed-Melek the Cushite, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty,
the God of Israel, says: I am about to fulfill my words against this city—words
concerning disaster, not prosperity. At that time they will be fulfilled before
your eyes. 17 But I will rescue you on
that day, declares the Lord; you will not be given into the
hands of those you fear. 18 I will save
you; you will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you
trust in me, declares the Lord.’”
Remember Ebed-Melek from a previous post? In a very difficult time in the history of Israel; when it was easier said than done to trust in the Lord; despite his fear, Ebed-Melek trusted in the Lord and that saved his life. There is no more record of Ebed-Melek in the Bible but he is remembered for speaking against injustice, and so helping the prophet Jeremiah and trusting the Lord.
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