Heavenly Father, please forgive us. Forgive us. We have gone astray. We have turned from Your ways. We have forgotten You and chased after false gods. We have worshipped the creature and forsaken the Creator. We have become friends of the world and enemies of the Word. Bring us back to You. Turn our hearts back to You. Hear from Heaven and heal our land. Pour out Your Spirit on us that our hearts might again burn for You. You are worthy and You are good and You are able. Grow our faith, Lord. In the Name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.
Heavenly Father, You are the giver of wisdom and justice for You are the source of them both. You are the fountain from which wisdom and justice flow. All Your ways are right. All Your ways are just and wise. Fill our nation with a love for justice and wisdom. Give our nation’s leaders a holy hunger for wisdom and justice, like You gave to king Solomon. Give our nation’s parents and pastors and teachers a desire for true wisdom and justice that they will lead our nation’s children in Your truth. We pray that as these men and women seek wisdom and justice that they would find it in You and in the pages of Your Word. Teach us, Lord, what justice and wisdom are. Show us what it means to be truly just, what true wisdom is. Grant us discernment to judge between right and wrong, truth and lies, justice and injustice. You are the standard, the plumb line, the truth by which all things and all laws, are measured, and give us a right understanding of who You are and what You have said. In the Name of Jesus Christ, Your Son, we pray. Amen.
David knows he is about to die, so he calls his son, Solomon, to him. What did David say to this son who will be the next king of Israel?
Be strong.
Show yourself a man.
Keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in His ways and keeping his commands as it is written in the Law of Moses.
Deal wisely and justly with Joab, Barzillai, and Shimei.
Now I’m not (and never will be) the king of a nation but I (like everyone else on the planet) will one day draw my last breath. If today were my last day, what final words would I want to share with my children?
What would I say to my children if today was my last day?
I love you. I’m proud of you. You are a gift to me. I’m so thankful you’re mine. God made YOU on purpose, and He has a purpose for your life. Fear not. He’s not finished yet. God is on His throne. He doesn’t save people because they’re good. They’re not. None of us are. He saves them because He is merciful and has a purpose for them. You are saved by your faith in Jesus Christ, not by your works. (Psalm 139:1-16; Romans 3:10-12; Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 3:3-8; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Romans 6:23)
Trust the Lord with all your heart. He is good. He is wise. Turn away from evil and do good. Choose to do the hard things out of love and trust for the Lord. (Proverbs 3:5-7; Deuteronomy 6:5; Matthew 22:37)
Love is both an emotion and an action. Love others as God has loved you. Bear with others. Forgive them, remembering how much God has forgiven you. He loved you while you were yet a sinner, loving you even to the point of death, death on a cross. Remember that love is patient and kind. God is patient and kind with you, and He is calling you to be patient and kind with others. Love is not arrogant, rude, boastful, or envious. Love does not insist on its own way. The Lord of the Universe humbled Himself for you, and He is calling you to humble yourself for Him and His creation. Love never ends. Love endures. Love bears all things. He has loved you with a never-ending love. Love others like that. (Colossians 3:12-13; 1 Corinthians 13:4-8; Philippians 2:1-8; Romans 5:7-8)
Children are a blessing from the Lord. Fill your home with them. Pour into them. Enjoy them. Train them up in the way they should go. Teach them diligently that they, too, will know and love the Lord. (Psalm 127:1-5; Proverbs 22:6; Deuteronomy 6:6-9; Psalm 78:1-8)
So, how about you? If today were your last day, what final words would you want to say to your children and loved ones?
Heavenly Father, How thankful I am for the hope that I have in my Savior, Jesus, who poured out His blood for me. How thankful I am to have the assurance that my last breath here on Earth is just the beginning of eternity with You. I pray that my children and grandchildren will have that assurance. I pray that You will strengthen me to be the mother and grandmother that You want me to be. Give me Your wisdom and lead me in when to speak and when to be silent. Make my words, Your words. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Make me a beacon pointing my family and my community to Him. For His Honor and for His glory I pray. Amen.
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.”
Amos 8:11 ESV
Would I rather worship or wander through Wally World?
Would I rather scroll through the truth of the Word or the foolishness of Facebook?
Would I rather skip my daily dose of carbs or the daily bread of the Lord’s presence?
Would I rather sit in a pew or sit on a couch?
Would I rather be in the front row of a church or the front row of a concert?
Would I rather listen to the correction of a wise counselor or the consolation of a foolish friend?
Would I rather miss a dinner date with my BFF or a breakfast date with my Heavenly Father?
Would I rather miss my morning cup of java or my morning cup of living water?
Would I rather have an empty belly or an empty mind?
“Sabbath days and sabbath work are a burden to carnal hearts, that are always afraid of doing too much for God and eternity.
Can we spend our time better than in communication with God?
And how much time do we spend pleasantly with the world? Will not the sabbath be gone before we have done the work of it and reaped the gains of it? Why then should we be in such haste to part with it?
They were fond of market-days: they longed to be selling corn and setting forth wheat. When they were employed in religious services they were thinking of their marketings …
Those are strangers to God, and enemies to themselves, that love market days better than sabbath days, that would rather be selling corn than worshipping God.”
Matthew Henry, Commentary on Amos 8
Heavenly Father, Align our hearts with Yours. Make us love what You love. Break our hearts for what breaks Yours. Give us a holy hunger. Make us hunger for what is healthy and right, what is pure and true. Make us sick over what makes You sick. Give us discernment to recognize what is truly lovely and what is a joy stealer. Help us spot the counterfeits, the deceptions, those things that masquerade as beautiful and give us hearts that hunger and thirst for righteousness for Your Name’s sake. In the Name of Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, the One who meets our every need, the well that never runs dry, the unending source of living water and the eternal bread of Your living presence, we pray. Amen.
For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live;”
Amos 5:4 ESV
Heavenly Father, I lift up the house of Israel to You. I pray that You would remove the veil from their eyes that they would recognize Messiah Jesus who came once to save and who is coming again to judge. Oh, Father, open their ears that they would hear clearly the gospel of peace. Soften their hearts that the seeds of truth would fall deep and take root. Use Your rod to chasten and reprove that they would return quickly to Your open arms. Please, Father, send out laborers into the harvest in Jerusalem and all over Israel and the Middle East. We want to see the olive tree bear fruit again for Your kingdom. In the Name of Jesus Christ, the Only Way to You, the Only Savior of the world, we pray. Amen.
As a mom, I want my discipline to bring my children to repentance. I want them to grieve their sin, see their error, and turn around.
But, all too often, that’s not the case. In fact, my discipline can end up making them more hard-hearted and rebellious. My words of gentle correction, or the natural consequences of their actions, can end up causing them to blame everyone but themselves.
Does that mean I’m wrong to discipline them?
Does that mean I should look the other way as they run headlong away from what is right?
My heart grieves with the Lord as He says five times in Amos 4, “yet you did not return to me.” He had withheld rain. He had struck their gardens with blights and locusts. He had even brought death upon some of their young men, yet they did not return to Him.
It reminds me of a line from one of Charles Spurgeon’s sermons.
The same sun which melts wax hardens clay. And the same Gospel which melts some persons to repentance hardens others in their sins.
C.H. Spurgeon
The Lord disciplines those He loves. That discipline will harden some and convict others. I wonder, which am I? Am I listening when the Lord is trying to get my attention? Am I willing to correct my course when the Lord is putting road blocks in my way?
How about you? How have you handled the Lord’s rod of correction? Where do you need to do an about-face and return to Him, your Creator?
Heavenly Father, We are indeed silly sheep who often go astray and wander into dangerous places. Forgive us, Father, for our foolishness, our rebellion, and our disobedience. Thank You for Your loving hand that seeks to bring Your children back into the fold. Your rod and Your staff are our comfort. Help us to listen to Your voice of corrections and change course, to RETURN to YOU, the lover of our souls. In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.
I’ve never studied Amos for myself, though my pastor did spend several weeks teaching through it in August 2019. In fact he spent about a year teaching through all the minor prophets verse by verse. If you’re like me and need a quick overview of the Book of Amos, you might want to read Got Questions’s post here.
Today I took some time to learn a little about the locations of Amos 1: Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, and Edom. And that got me thinking about how God pronounced these judgments on the whole city-state, not merely on individuals or even the king.
So I started thinking about what kind of judgment God would have on my city, state, and nation. We have forsaken His Word. We have forgotten His commands. We have aborted babies in the name of choice. We have allowed criminals to run free while we have forbidden prayer and the Bible from our schools. We have set aside a month to celebrate men who pretend to be women and women who pretend to be men. We have bowed down to idols of all kinds: money, Mother Earth, and mortal men. We have hidden the gospel and turned a blind eye to our neighbor in need.
Heavenly Father, Forgive us, Lord. Forgive us. Please, Father, shed Your grace on us. We need You. Turn our nation back to You. Turn the hearts of fathers back to their children. Turn the hearts of mothers back to their homes. Turn us back to Your Word. For Your glory and honor I pray. Amen.
David trusts in God because he knows his character. David knows that God is good so he puts his trust in Him. David knows that God sees him and cares about him so he puts his faith in Him. I’m reminded of another psalm David had written.
And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.
Psalm 9:10 ESV
The more You know God, the more you will trust Him because you will recognize His everlasting goodness and power. This is why I love reading The Knowledge of the Holy by A.W. Tozer so much. I even wrote an ebook from my own thoughts on the topic.
As your trust in God grows, then you will seek Him and call upon Him, which reminds me of another Psalm of David. Psalm 34:4, “I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears.”
As you call upon Him, He will answer you, and You will praise His Name.
For this I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations, and sing praises to your name. Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever.
2 Samuel 22:50-51 ESV
Psalm 34, Taste and See, Shane and Shane
My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!
Psalm 34:2-3 ESV
Heavenly Father, thank you for your goodness and mercy towards me. You are the almighty God, the steadfast rock, the refuge for those who seek you. Help me to trust in You, fully and daily. May I not trust in horses and chariots and human wisdom, but in Christ my solid rock on whom I stand. He is the eternal God and King of kings. It is in His holy name that I pray. Amen.
At the end of last year we read in 1 Samuel 25:3 that Abigail was both beautiful and discerning (or sensible, intelligent, of good understanding, depending on your translation). Then, earlier this week in 2 Samuel 14:17, the woman of Tekoa flattered King David saying, “my lord the king is like the angel of God to discern good and evil.” Next month we will dive into 1 Kings and read about David’s son, Solomon, who asked God to give him an understanding mind that he might discern between good and evil so he could rightly govern the nation of Israel.
How desperately we need discernment! We are indeed surrounded by so many liars and deceivers, men and women who call light dark and dark light, who call good evil and evil good (Isaiah 5:20). Satan masquerades as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:13). As my pastor said two weeks ago when he was teaching through 2 Corinthians 11, Satan disguises in order to deceive, and I might add he deceives in order to devour. (See 1 Peter 5:8)
Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. He disguises himself in order to deceive us. He deceives us in order to devour us. We must be discerning, distinguishing rightly between good from evil.
We must be wise. Not with the wisdom of the world, but with the wisdom of God. Remember Paul’s introductory words in his letter to the Corinthians, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.'” (1 Corinthians 1:18-19 ESV)
“In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.
About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”
– Hebrews 5:7-14 ESV
Let me ask you, when did you first receive Christ?
Last week?
Last month?
Last year?
Last night?
Oh, baby Christian, enjoy the sweet, pure milk on the gospel. It has been given to you to help you grow up to full maturity.
But, sister, were you born again years ago, even decades ago? It’s time to grow up into maturity, training your powers of discernment by constant practice.
In today’s passage, 2 Samuel 16, David isn’t a baby believer any more. He’s a grown man who knows God and the truth of His Word. He knows that he ought to inquire of God. God has proven Himself faithful. David needed to listen to the Holy Spirit’s counsel that he might know the way that he should go and who he should believe … and so do we.
Heavenly Father, Thank You for giving us Your Word and filling us with Your Holy Spirit. Give us wisdom and lead us in the paths of righteousness for Your name’s sake. Help us to discern what is good and right and true that we may run toward it. And help us to discern what is foolish and wicked and false that we may flee from it. In the Almighty, Holy Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, Savior, and Redeemer we pray. Amen.
Heavenly Father, I don’t want to be like Absalom, rallying people around me and using You as some kind of a tool. My life is Yours. You are the king, and I’m not. Jesus is the King. I’m not. Help me to love You, to worship You, in Spirit and in truth. Keep me humble for my good and Your glory. In the Holy, Almighty Name of Jesus I pray. Amen.
Teach What is Good 
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