I love a good chocolate chip cookie! I can’t say that vending machine cookies are my favorite thing, but if I need a sugar fix, a bag of Famous Amos cookies can do the trick. However, today’s devotion and scripture contain no chocolate chip cookies (unless you would like to eat one while you’re reading).
I can’t think of any songs or poems proclaiming Amos’ greatness. He wasn’t a king, a priest, or in any elevated position. Amos 1:1 says that this not-so-famous Amos was “Among the sheepherders from Tekoa.” Even the place he was from isn’t famous to our modern-day ears. (I had to cheat a little bit to find out more about Amos by going to chapter 7). In Amos 7:14, he says, “I am not a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a grower of sycamore figs.” He didn’t speak out so he would gain fame. He spoke out because God called him to.
Once again, God shows us that he can use anyone from any background as a vessel for His word. Amos had powerful things to say, and He was willing to be God’s vessel. Some of his writings might be a little bit difficult to read and understand without knowing about the events of his day so if you need a Cliff Notes version to help you gain clarity, I recommend this video from The Bible Project.
Remember, it doesn’t matter what your age, gender, race, or education is. It doesn’t matter if you’ve been raised in the church or are just starting on your Christian journey. God can use you to further His Kingdom and share his love!
-Lacey Dunn
Reflection:
• What gifts or talents has God given you that you can use for furthering His Kingdom?
• What is one way that someone else has shared God’s word with you? What made it effective, and how can you effectively share God’s word with someone else?
“Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live” – Deuteronomy 30:19b (ESV)
In chapter 42, Job again responds to God. He is humble, accepting that he cannot understand God nor His ways. He repents for speaking about what he doesn’t understand. He responds just as God wanted him to, in humility.
Job’s friends first made their appearance in Job 2. They “made an appointment together to come show him sympathy and comfort him” (Job 2:11b). The first thing they did was an outward display of sharing his pain (wept, tore their robes, sprinkled dust on their heads). Then they just sat with him. In silence. For seven days.
If you’ve been reading along in Job, you have heard their advice. Much of it sounds good. Much of it would likely be great advice in a different situation. Their focus was on what Job had done wrong to incur God’s wrath. They couldn’t see any alternative to Job’s suffering. Yet they gave up their silence and tried. They did their best, but it turns out, they were wrong. And God wasn’t about to let them get away with it.
We’ve all been there….sitting (in person, via text, on social media, over the phone, etc.) with a suffering friend not knowing what to say. Eventually, the silence drives us to speak. Our desire to help is strong and pushes us to try to solve the problem, to figure out the “why” so they can fix it, or at least understand it. Our hearts are in the right place. I think Job’s friend’s hearts were in the right place, too. They wanted to help.
God says that His anger burns against them and that they haven’t spoken of Him what is right. I don’t want to be in that place with God. While He does offer them a way out – a way to repent – it is humbling, and likely even humiliating. They thought they were offering good advice to their friend and now they have to humble themselves and ask him to pray for their misspeaking.
What can we learn from this exchange? First, reaching out to a friend who is suffering is good. Sitting in silence is good, too. But what I take away from this is that we need to seek God before we respond on His behalf. Before we tell someone what God would have them do, we should ask God. That can be in prayer or in reading His Word. Someone once said that God will never contradict His Word, so whatever you “hear” him saying, cross-check it in the Bible.
And a quick dip into Deuteronomy for some great thoughts to meditate on today…
Deuteronomy 29:18b-19a says, “Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.”
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 says, “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”
I think Job chose life. Even though he didn’t do anything really big to sin, God called him out on his attitude and words. He didn’t bear poisonous and bitter fruit and he didn’t hold on to his stubborn heart. He humbled himself.
Amy Blanchard
Reflection Questions
Do you know a friend who is suffering? What can you do to help them? Remember to start with asking God.
Do you have a stubborn heart that thinks you’ll be safe from God’s wrath? Consider what choice you are making – life or death, blessing or curse. Remember that your choice not only determines if you will dwell in the land of God’s promise, it also affects those following you – don’t make it harder for them to choose life and blessing.
I remember the song that came on the radio immediately after receiving the text that a dear woman of God was being placed in hospice care following her 4 year battle with cancer – I Can Only Imagine. And God spoke to me. My friend and mentor was getting closer and closer to the dark sleep of death and we would be separated from her for a time. But at Jesus’ resurrection she will rise and be closer to Jesus than ever before! I wonder – will she sing and dance or fall silent at his feet? I Can Only Imagine.
I remember the song that echoed in the rafters as the Family Camp worship band led worship at the close of a Family Camp which had come at a time of great searching and pain for our family when we were unsure of what was next but felt God leading us away from the church that was home – These are the Days of Elijah. And God spoke to me. “There is no god like Jehovah”. Yes, Elijah, Moses, David had trials, too. They were unsure, they questioned, they experienced pain, and God showed up for them in mighty ways, just as He was revealing himself for us, one day at a time. “There is no god like Jehovah”!
I remember the song that just last night my daughter started to sing as I read aloud the Bible reading for the day from Psalm 108 – “My heart, O God, is steadfast; I will sing and make music with all my soul.” The tune probably wouldn’t sound familiar to you because my 3 kids wrote it out and practiced it over and over with piano, guitar and voice to remember it now, 4 years later, during our devotions. And God spoke to me – through the words of David and the tune of my children. God is worthy of praise – through all the years and generations and ages. Sing to Him and tell the nations!
Music is powerful. People choose and leave churches based on the worship style. Many report that during the time of online church they miss most not meeting to sing together with the body of Christ. It is interesting that the most popular post on this site was one titled after a rousing and uplifting worship song which vividly brings to mind God’s might and protection – The God of Angel Armies.
But what gives music its real power is that GOD speaks through it.
In our reading today we have 3 chapters written for the Jews returning to Jerusalem after many year of living in captivity. They are reminded of how to be God’s chosen, holy people – and that includes the temple worship spoken of in these chapters – 1 Chronicles 23-25. We read in 1 Chronicles 23:5 that King David himself provided the instruments for the 4,000 Levites selected to lead the people in musical worship to their God. Chapter 25 lists the heads of the families selected, “for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals.” (25:1). Often we think today of prophesying as foretelling the future. But more generically, and often used in the Scriptures, prophesying is simply speaking for the Lord. To be God’s mouthpiece. To say what God wants to be said.
God speaks. And sometimes that is done with a tune, set to music, with instruments and voices lifted high. Sing to the Lord – and listen for what He is speaking to you today.
Seek Grow Love 