Daily Devotions
January 11th, 2012 by Pastor SolleyAmos 1:1-6 Am 1:1 THE words of Amos, who was among the herdmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 2 And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, And utter his voice from Jerusalem;
And the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, And the top of Carmel shall wither. 3 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, And for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; Because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: 4 But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael,
Which shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad. 5 I will break also the bar of Damascus, And cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, And him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: And the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the LORD. 6 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Gaza,
And for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; Because they carried away captive the whole captivity, To deliver them up to Edom:
Have you ever stopped and thanked the Lord for His longsuffering nature? As a Pastor I get asked all the time questions like these. “Don’t you think God understands? Doesn’t God want me to be happy? Haven’t things changed today? These questions come most of the time when someone wants to walk in sin. After hearing the Word of God and God’s mind on the matter they often make an accusation of one being unloving or judgmental, not believing in the mercy and forgiveness of God. I do believe in the mercy and forgiveness of God and I believe in the longsuffering of God. But as you read the book of Amos you find that God has limits. For three transgressions and for four is repeated again and again in this first chapter. God was longsuffering with them, God was merciful with them, but God did and does have His limits. One can only walk in sin so long before God must chasten and judge. God does give us time to come back to obedience, to seek Him and follow Him. But God today has His limits just as He did then. Christian, God never winks at sin, His nature has not changed, His Word has not changed, God has His limit. I thank God for His longsuffering nature but I also thank Him for His holiness and His Word to guide us in the right path.