Remember Who He Is
Come back to the Lord and live! If you don’t, he will roar through Israel like a fire, devouring you completely. . . . It is the Lord who created the stars, the Pleiades and Orion. It is he who turns darkness into morning and day into night. It is he who draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The Lord is his name! With blinding speed and power he destroys the strong, crushing all their defenses. Amos 5:6, 8-9
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Throughout Amos chapter 5, in the midst of harsh judgment and the announcement of more disasters to come, the Lord mercifully calls his people to leave their idolatry, stop their wickedness, corruption, and injustice, and return to him. “Come back to the Lord and live,” he tells them, before I “roar through Israel like a fire, devouring you completely.” He calls them to remember what he has done, to look at creation, the constellations and stars at night. He reminds them of who he is: the blessed controller of everything in nature. He turns blackness into morning and day into night. He draws water from the oceans and pours it down as rain. His power destroys the strong and crushes all their defenses, causes the proud to stumble, and strengthens the weak. The Lord Almighty is his name! Just as the Israelites strayed when they forgot God and his deeds, so do we. One of the great values of the Scriptures is that they call us back to the truth of who God is. They give us word pictures of God’s power and greatness so that we will return to him in surrender and devotion—that we might live.
Prayers:
OH, LORD ALMIGHTY, who created the stars and turns darkness into dawn and day into night, I bow before you. I praise you for ruling over heaven and earth and “with blinding speed and power” crushing the wicked. Nothing can withstand your power! Thank you for your Word, which reminds me of who you are and calls me back to devotion and truth. Keep me from evil, and guide me along the path of life.
Quotes:
Oh, for hearts to bow to the truth so frequently pressed in Scripture, and thus to be kept from the defilement of evil!
H. A. Ironside (1876–1951)
The One Year Bible Readings for today are: Amos 4:1–6:14; Revelation 2:18–3:6; Psalm 130:1-8 and Proverbs 29:21-22.
