14 day plan

The Lion Roars

Day 13 of 14

CSB

Amos 8:11-12

11Look, the days are coming —

this is the declaration of the Lord God —

when 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.

12People will stagger from sea to sea

and roam from north to east

seeking the word of the Lord,

but they will not find it.

When Heaven Is Silent

Words create relationship. Silence kills relationship. If someone’s really angry with us, they stop talking to us. And that silence can be deeply hurtful and frightening.

God is our creator and life-giver. His word sustains our life. These verses are the most terrifying words of the whole book of Amos. God has become so frustrated with his people, he stops talking to them. And his silence brings death.

This is why we need Jesus. Jesus is God’s word of life (John 1:4). To hear him is eternal, divine life; to ignore him is eternal death.

Think of a New Testament command which you find really uncomfortable and wish wasn’t there. E.g.: Matthew 5:10-12; 21-26; 27-30; Ephesians 4:29-32; 5:3-6; 1 Peter 3:9. How can you see it as good and life-giving, instead of restrictive?

Prayer: Father God, thank you for speaking to us. Thank you for your Son – your word made flesh – and for the Bible, the Holy Scriptures – your word written. By your Spirit, open our ears to hear you, in your Son, according to your Scriptures, so that in hearing you, we may truly live. And open our lips in prayer, praise, and proclamation, so that your life would overflow from us to those around us. Amen.

© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers

Days

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14

Amos 8:1-14

Fourth Vision: A Basket of Summer Fruit

1The Lord God showed me this: a basket of summer fruit. 2He asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”

I replied, “A basket of summer fruit.”

The Lord said to me, “The end has come for my people Israel; I will no longer spare them. 3In that day the temple songs will become wailing” — this is the Lord God’s declaration. “Many dead bodies, thrown everywhere! Silence!”

4Hear this, you who trample on the needy

and do away with the poor of the land,

5asking, “When will the New Moon be over

so we may sell grain,

and the Sabbath,

so we may market wheat?

We can reduce the measure

while increasing the price

and cheat with dishonest scales.

6We can buy the poor with silver

and the needy for a pair of sandals

and even sell the chaff!”

7The Lord has sworn by the Pride of Jacob:

I will never forget all their deeds.

8Because of this, won’t the land quake

and all who dwell in it mourn?

All of it will rise like the Nile;

it will surge and then subside

like the Nile in Egypt.

9And in that day —

this is the declaration of the Lord God —

I will make the sun go down at noon;

I will darken the land in the daytime.

10I will turn your feasts into mourning

and all your songs into lamentation;

I will cause everyone to wear sackcloth

and every head to be shaved.

I will make that grief

like mourning for an only son

and its outcome like a bitter day.

11Look, the days are coming —

this is the declaration of the Lord God —

when 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.

12People will stagger from sea to sea

and roam from north to east

seeking the word of the Lord,

but they will not find it.

13In that day the beautiful young women,

the young men also, will faint from thirst.

14Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria

and say, “As your god lives, Dan,”

or, “As the way of Beer-sheba lives” —

they will fall, never to rise again.

© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers