Nourishment. Amos 8:11-12.

Most people eat constantly—and constantly think about eating.  Eating is often the first thing we do in the morning and the last thing we do at night. 

Instead, when we wake up, we should remember our spiritual hunger.  We need to consume spiritual food.  Do you wake up and think about God’s word?  Did you have a spiritual breakfast this morning? Many of us never think about it, probably because we don’t feel the same hunger pains for spiritual food that we do for calories.

But we need God’s word every day.  Don’t believe me? Consider how different your life is when you dine on the word daily versus when you haven’t read it for weeks.  You know it makes a difference.

And the food/hunger/famine metaphor is Biblical.  Often God warns His people about coming famines, but sometimes He sends spiritual famines, times when His voice is silenced, and people discover how badly they need Him and have strayed from walking with Him.

“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.  People will stagger from sea to sea and roam from north to east, seeking the word of the Lord, but they will not find it” Amos 8:11-12.

Commentators write that this prophecy was fulfilled in the Inter-Testamental period when, for 400 years, God spoke not to Israel, neither through prophet nor priest.  And the people were miserable, feeling abandoned.

By contrast, how many Christians do you know who have never heard the voice of the Lord, and don’t even care? Many spend entire lives listening only to themselves and their friends, never even expecting God to speak.  –And He won’t speak if you are not spending time in His Word.

God, remind us that spending time in Your word is like sitting with you over a meal or a cup of coffee—You speak to us when we read the Bible.  Give us a deeper hunger for your Word!

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Beware This Unusual Judgment. Amos 8:11-12.

In the Old Testament God punished His people in many ways—with wars lost, enslavement, pestilence, starvation, drought.

One creative punishment was silence.

“Hear this! The days are coming when I will send a famine though the land: not a famine of bread or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. People will stagger from sea to sea and roam from north to east, seeking the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.” Amos 8:11-12.

Imagine that. Israel had food and water and peace. But no one could hear from God.

No one could be sure he was making right choices. No one knew whether God was pleased with his decisions or whether every day he was storing up more wrath. Every prayer seemed to stop at the ceiling. Every moment of solitude felt like being abandoned—because no one felt God’s presence. Their souls were starving for a word from God.

But we feed our souls junk food. Picture this: my son is outdoors on an air mattress (no tent), miles from a city, surrounded by the stars, scorpions, and 10,000 bats. He is about to go to sleep on top of a rocky desert in the middle of nowhere, one of the most inhospitable wildernesses in North America. Not a sound can be heard but the wind and the wildlife … and he is looking at Tic Toc.

That is the world we live in—entertainment that never stops. You can watch anything, anytime, anywhere. There is so much available, you can’t sit through a movie without stopping to check your social media.

But your soul does not hunger for entertainment. You don’t need mental junk food. Your soul craves the Word of God. That is the bread and water of life. Without it, you are starving. Feed your soul the BREAD, the nourishment, that it craves. Read the Bible.

Otherwise, God may send “a famine of … hearing the words of the Lord.”

Dear Lord, remind us to feed on Your Word. Help us desire it, hunger for it, and make it a respected daily habit, as we do with meals of food.

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Living on the Edge. Amos 6:12.

If you’ve stood on the edge of a cliff, you understand the expression.  We all talk about edges, about pushing things to the limit.  In the book RANGER CONFIDENTIAL, Andrea Lankford reports on the deadly falls each year at the Grand Canyon and the rangers’ struggle to retrieve the bodies.  Eleven fell from the edge in 2022, slightly fewer than the annual average of twelve.  Fighter pilots coined the phrase “push the envelope” to explain that there is an envelope in which the physics of lift will support the heavier-than-air flight of a steel airplane. But if you leave the envelope, the plane will crash.  Naturally, pilots wanted to push the envelope.  In other words, fighter pilots enjoy “living on the edge.” Aerosmith, a band famous for its struggles with drug addiction, wrote the dark hit: “Living on the Edge.” 

We get it.  Edges are like the cliffs at the Grand Canyon: attractive because of the views, but dangerous because you may fall.

We know it is dangerous, but we always want to get so close!  Some of us find heights intoxicating in spite of the obvious danger. We wander closer and closer. You know what else we do that with? Sin.  Often we try to respect some rule—yet we get as close as we possibly can to breaking that rule.  Closer and closer and closer.  And what happens?  Eventually you fall.  It is human nature.

Consider the prophet’s rhetorical questions:

“Do horses gallop on the cliffs?  Does anyone plow there with oxen?” Amos 6:12.

You’ve seen the cliffs 60 feet above the Brazos River near Hempstead.  Farmers like Larry Cooper might walk that edge, but you won’t see him tractoring around up there baling hay.  The cliffs can fall away at any time—it’s far too dangerous.  So he avoids it.  Why is it that we have more respect for ACTUAL cliffs than for cliffs that will drop us into the abyss of sin and judgment? 

Don’t flirt with sin!  Don’t get so close!  How does living on the edge help you?  Back away from the edge and embrace the God who only wants to bless you when He puts limitations on you.  He loves you.  Live to please Him—don’t live on the edge.

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P.S. I love this crazy moment at the Moab Rope Swing. https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1BDbRbentj/

Don’t Despair.

When things look dark and life seems hopeless, don’t despair.  Return to the simple truths.  Have you ever faced a tragedy or a series of unrelenting disasters—a job loss, a car repair, a health problem, a broken appliance, the illness and death of a loved one? 

Sometimes when it rains it pours and life feels like blow after blow after blow, and all you can do is take the hits. 

But take the time to remind yourself of simple truths: Is God still on His throne? He is. Will this time of hardship end? It will.  Will things get better? Without a doubt.  God remains sovereign; He still controls everything: the weather, the economy, the gas prices, the job market, your health—everything.

“You opened up springs and streams. You dried up ever-flowing rivers. The day is Yours.  Also the night. You established the moon and the sun.  You set all the boundaries of the earth. You made summer and winter” Psalm 74:15-17.

Can you believe this heat?  Can you believe we are looking at another drought, this one so severe, West Texas farmers are not bothering to plant cotton this year. 

But God opens springs and controls rivers. He controls summer and winter.  Trust Him.  Remind yourself that you trust Him.

“He who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals His thoughts to man, He who turns dawn to darkness and treads the high places of the earth, the Lord Almighty is His name! He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns blackness 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.” Amos 4:13, 5:8-9.

God, remind us that YOU are in CONTROL.  You are sovereign over all things.  We trust You with gas prices, the heat, the drought, and everything else.  Help us give You glory and praise every day.

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Blood Moons: Prepare to Meet Your Maker.

My friend I call Conspiracy Girl thought Blood Moons were exciting because they foretold the end of time. Does Armageddon sound exciting to you? For me, 2020 was the most dystopian year EVER, and I know it’s nothing compared to the true LAST DAYS. 

Amos foretold doom on many nations, but saved his scariest words for Israel. I like this line (quoted in so many movies):

“Israel, Prepare to meet your God.” Amos 4:12.

He goes on to describe God in fearful, awesome terms. I want you to think about that. God is not your buddy or your pal. He loves you, yes, but He is the omnipotent Creator of the universe.

“He is here, the One who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals His thoughts to man, who makes dawn out of darkness… the One who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness 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, Yahweh is His name, He brings destruction on the mighty and destroys their stronghold.” Amos 4:13, 5:8-9.

God is holy. He is bigger and higher and greater than us.

Take a few minutes to tell God how amazing He is. Praise Him for His power, grace, wisdom, love, justice and holiness. Block out all distractions and begin with this, say it over and over and over. Let it sink in:

“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.” Revelation 4:8.

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What Sort of a Tale We’ve Fallen Into. Amos 4:13 and 5:8-9.

In THE TWO TOWERS, Samwise Gamgee (whom Tolkien later admits is the true hero in his view) muses about the nature of storytelling with Frodo.  Sam suggests that readers may know what sort of ending is coming, but they would never want the characters to know.  Then he asks a great question:

“I wonder what sort of a tale we’ve fallen into?”

“I wonder,” said Frodo. “But I don’t know.  And that’s the way of a real tale.”

What is this world we were born into? What sort of tale are we part of? What is this place, this planet we find ourselves living on? And why the constant war between good and evil, pleasure and pain, heroism and narcissism?

The Bible offers answers on every page, and only by reading all of the pages can you comprehend the great truths of life.  But there is a great beginning in the little book of Amos:

“He who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals His thoughts to man, He who turns dawn into darkness and treads the high places of the earth, the Lord Almighty is His Name! … He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns blackness 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—He flashes destruction on the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin” Amos 4:13 and 5:8-9.

God is the Creator of mountains and wind and mornings.  He made the constellations and keeps the earth going around the sun. He makes the rain fall to nourish the land.  He can destroy the armies and cities of His enemies—but best of all—HE REVEALS HIS THOUGHTS TO MAN. 

Another verse goes further:

“The Lord God does nothing without revealing His counsel to His servants the prophets” Amos 3:7.

You live in a world where the Creator who made ALL and rules ALL wants to speak to YOU and reveal Himself to YOU.

Amen!  “Speak Lord, your servant is listening” 1 Samuel 3:10.

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Jonah Was Mad!

God said go to Ninevah. Jonah ran. Three horrible days in the belly of a whale. Jonah begs God to rescue him. God does and Jonah preaches doom to Nineveh. But they repented in dust and ashes, fasting and making their animals fast. And God relented and forgave.

“And Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious….” He was so upset, he asked God to take His life.

“Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” Jonah 4:1,3.

Do you hate anyone so much you would rather they go to hell than repent? Would you be mad at God for saving your enemies , even after He humbled you in the belly of the whale?

Pray: Dear God, BREAK MY HEART WITH THE THINGS THAT BREAK THE HEART OF GOD. Fill me with your compassion and your view of life and people. Make me more like Jesus and less like Jonah!

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What Does God Want From Me? –The Micah Mandate*.

Have you ever asked, “What does God want from me?” It is one of life’s most important questions.  After all, if there is a God, nothing matters more than knowing Him and knowing what He requires from us.

When Jonah was about to die inside a “great fish,” he asked God to rescue Him. God saved him and told him to go to Ninevah and preach as he had been instructed previously—before Jonah ran from God and ended up fish food. Jonah obeyed.

When Jonah preached that God was about to destroy the evil city of Ninevah, its citizens realized they were about to die.  Like Jonah in the fish, they too repented of their sins and begged God to save them.

“Then God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—so God relented from the disaster He had threatened to do to them” Jonah 3:10.

Jonah sinned, repented, and God rescued him. The Ninevites sinned, repented, and God rescued them. They have a lot in common.

But Jonah hated the Ninevites and wanted God to destroy them.  “Jonah was greatly displeased and became furious … ‘And now Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live’” Jonah 4:1 and 3. 

Jonah may have been God’s prophet (though a reluctant prophet at best). But the pagan people of Ninevah understood pure repentance better than he did.  When you repent and come to God for salvation, you let go of EVERYTHING. Let go of the hate, the bitterness, the grudges, the feuds.  God rescues Jonah from the fish, and the man gets so mad when the Ninevites respond to his preaching that he wants to die?  Are you kidding me?

From the belly of the fish Jonah may have asked himself, ‘What does God want from me?’ but he did not give God everything.  He did not surrender ALL of his heart, otherwise God would have changed it. 

Have you asked “What does God want from me?”  Here is the answer:

“He has told you oh man, what is good. And what doth the Lord require from you, but to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God” Micah 6:8.

Jonah failed to love mercy and walk humbly. Ask yourself whether you are doing the three things God requires.

*The phrase the Micah Mandate appears to be the creation of George Grant, author of the book, THE MICAH MANDATE: BALANCING THE CHRISTIAN LIFE.

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God is Good.

Brian loved football.  In tenth-grade he was diagnosed with cancer in his left leg and endured chemotherapy.  He lost his hair, but returned to sports.  Then cancer came raging back. The doctors wanted to remove Brian’s leg above the knee. 

Brian wanted to play football.  He had two years left and decided to postpone the amputation until he finished high school football.  He played his junior year, but the cancer got worse and he had the leg removed during the spring.  Unfortunately, Brian did not live to see his senior year.  The disease had spread.  Whether putting off the amputation allowed the cancer to spread or not, I do not know.  But it was the question on everyone’s minds at the time. 

—And it was the wrong question.  Better questions would be:

WHY WOULD A SOVEREIGN GOD ALLOW CANCER TO CLAIM BRIAN?  WHY BRIAN AND NOT ME?

The Bible says King Amaziah–king of Judah–planned to go to battle using many soldiers from Israel.  But a prophet told King Amaziah not to take the army of Israel with him—because God was not happy with Israel.

“But if you do go with them, do it! Be strong for battle! But God will make you stumble before the enemy, for God has the power to help or to make one stumble” 2 Chronicles 25:8.

The prophet says: whatever route you take, “God has the power to help or to make one stumble.”  God has a plan and He will see that you make the right choices.  As long as you are praying and laying your decisions before God, He will guide you, and He will accomplish His will. 

HE IS GOOD, Psalm 100:5.  And “His ways are perfect” Psalm 18:30.   

He is good, and He loves you, and you can trust Him with ALL THINGS. –As for Brian, God used his illness and death to arrest the attention of all the youth at FBC and NWA, a revival broke out, and hundreds of lives and families are different today as a result.

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Seek Wise Counsel.

You never know how God may speak. We must pray—and we must listen.  God speaks through His word, prayer, circumstances, other people, and He may even speak through your enemies.  Do you realize that?

Judah’s King Amaziah was a pretty good king, generally following the Lord more closely than the kings of Israel such as King Jehoash. While King Jehoash was leading Israel into idol worship, King Amaziah of Judah won a war against Edom. Then he sent word to King Jehoash challenging Israel to a battle.  Though he was an evil king, Jehoash replied with a message of peace for King Amaziah:

“The thistle [weed] sent a message to the cedar saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ Then a wild animal trampled the thistle.  You have indeed defeated Edom, and you have become overconfident. Enjoy your glory and stay at home. Why should you stir up trouble for yourself?” 2 Kings 14:9-10.

What should King Amaziah do?  King Jehoash responded to the threat of war with the words of a peacemaker. He tried to defuse the situation. But maybe King Jehoash is talking down to Amaziah, patting him on the head.  Perhaps his advice is condescending. Maybe this is like the scene in Shakespeare’s HENRY THE FIFTH when the King of France sends the young King of England a gift of tennis balls, implying the new king is a child and not to be taken seriously.  Should Amaziah be offended and rush into war? Or should he give these words some thought?  This is war—it requires sober reflection.

But King Amaziah is cocky and does not reflect.  He does not pray about it or talk to his prophets and priests. He goes to war against Israel and loses and in fact, he is captured.

Verses describing his son, King Uzziah, are applicable to Amaziah:

“DURING THE TIME THAT HE SOUGHT THE LORD, GOD GAVE HIM SUCCESS … BUT WHEN HE BECAME STRONG HE GREW ARROGANT AND IT LED TO HIS DESTRUCTION” 2 Chronicles 26:5 and 16.

We must be humble and make wise decisions. 

“God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” James 4:6-7.

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