As I continue reading Amos, I have to say, I'm loving every word of it. It really reveals so much more about God to me that I didn't know about before.
So today's post is on chapter 4.
"Israel has not returned to God"
One question stood out to me as I read verses 4-5, 'had The Lord given up on trying to get Israel to turn back to Him?
It's kind of like us, when we give up on trying to change someone, we're like 'fine, go do what you want'. Is that what God doing here?
I definitely do not know exactly what God's intentions were here, but I can say I'm sure that it wasn't God giving up in His people.
I think that maybe God was trying a different approach to get Israel's intentions, He was telling them personally what they were doing, where they were going wrong, so maybe they would open their eyes & see themselves drowning in this sea of sin.
We would normally expect God to tell His people not to sin, but here He was telling them to sin, because He probably knew that this would help them realise they were sinning & turn away from it.
Here we are once again reminded how unpredictable God is & how amazingly He works in our lives.
Throughout this passage, the only thing I could see was God wanting to see His people turn from their sin & back to Him.
Especially with the repetition of "yet you have not returned to me" in verses 6-11.
As I thought more about it, isn't that basically what God's been doing since The Fall in the very beginning?
For so long, God's been trying to redeem His creation that turned against the Creator Himself.
This really made me realise, when we normally think of God's salvation & redemption of mankind, we normally only think of the cross.
We normally only picture that one day Jesus hung on the cross for us, or those 33 years Jesus came down to earth for us. We only think of God saving us in that instant when Jesus overcame death.
But what I came to realise throughout the desperation of this passage is that the picture of God's redemption on mankind is so much bigger.
Yes, when Jesus died on the cross for us, it was such a great event & we are eternally grateful for that. But in reality, God has done SOOO much more than just send His son to die on the cross for us.
Picture the cross. It's one of the greatest examples we know of God's love for us. It's God Himself sacrificing His one & only son for us. It's God, allowing Himself to die so He could overcome death for us. Now isn't that a bit too much God has done for us when we deserved nothing from Him.
Now think about this, since the very beginning, when sin entered the earth, God has CONTINUALLY tried to help His people overcome their sinful desires and turn back to Him.
Not only that, He's had to face our rejection, our stubbornness, our ignorance. He's had to have the grief of punishing us because we're unwilling to turn from our sin. But still He's never given up on us, even though we're still going against Him. He's been persistence with his love even though we've been persistent with our sinful lives.
He's been trying so hard like this for thousands of years.
Now doesn't that make the whole redemption story seem so much larger than we may have thought it to be already? As we read through Amos 4, we can get a taste of how much rejection God faced from His own people, but how hard He still kept trying to being them back.
At the same time, it may seem like God is a complete failure for 'losing control' of His people.
But think about it this way, couldn't God so easily change our minds to see Him as so much better than sin so that we would so easily turn to Him?
Well a relationship isn't one if it's one sides right? Both peers need to be contributing. Here it's the same idea. It just wouldn't work if God made us see Him as everything we've wanted.
He's created a choice for us.
Sin or Him.
He created it so that we may choose Him over sin to reaffirm our relationship with Him, so that it is genuine.
Knowing this, we can know that sin wasn't made for us to indulge in, it was made so that we may choose Him over it.
In verse 12, the words "prepare to meet your God" were quite compelling to me. There are only two sides of God you'd meet. Either His judgmental side in our sin, or Him welcoming us into eternity with Him. Here, most definitely, He was telling them to prepare to meet Him for judgement.
But why meet Him? Hadn't He already punished them enough?
It really shows that God is a personal God, He makes Himself available to us eve though He is God.
"Prepare to meet your God"
One day we will all meet Him.
How we prepare to meet Him determines what the outcome of meeting Him will be. Do we want to see God disgusted with our ignorance & love for sin, or do we want Him to look past it all & welcome us with arms wide open because we chose to do out best to love Him?
The last verse, 13 is a great reminder of God's greatness & for us to remember who God really is, not some God that's desperate for our live, but the God who "forms the mountains, creates the wind".
So I hope we may remember how much God actually did for us, so that we may be ignorant no longer & strive to live our lives the best we can all for Him.
And I also hope that we may prepare ourselves for the glorious moment when He comes to take us to heaven one day.
Godbless~
Showing posts with label redemption. Show all posts
Showing posts with label redemption. Show all posts
Go be scattered
Hey guys, I had a pretty rough day at school today so I was extremely looking forward to hear what God had to say to me today.
Today's passage is from Genesis 11:1-9
As you may know already, this passage is about the Tower of Babel.
_-_Google_Art_Project_-_edited.jpg)
This is another one of those passages I've read many times, especially in my childhood. I'm actually really surprised with what God spoke to me through this passage today though.
I'm going to get straight to the point today.
The verse that made me question the most was verse 6.
"then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them"
Was God a tad bit scared here that man was starting to have power in great numbers?
So did He have to separate them out of fear of them becoming greater than him?
Haha, of course not!
Man was thinking they could be God.
They thought they could reach God's standard.
But God knew, even if they managed to obtain all that power, they couldn't handle it. They would probably become corrupted with all that power.
Power isn't everything~
Only God can handle true power.
So here was a problem, man had decided they could possibly become God.
So as God always does, He had to find a solution to the problem.
He could have done many things.
He could have killed off those particular people.
He could have just destroyed the tower to show who's god.
He could have even wipe out their memories or intentions.
But He didn't.
He did something that had so much more purpose.
He created what we know as different cultures nowadays. He increased the diversity of us humans. He took another step to make us all more unique.
He 'guided' them to explore & inhabit more of this beautiful place He created.
They were completely in the wrong path.
They were sinning against God.
But God used that situation to fulfill an amazing plan of His.
The main point I would like to bring out is this.
"No matter how far we may have fallen, God can still use us to help fulfill His purpose."
Godbless~
Today's passage is from Genesis 11:1-9
As you may know already, this passage is about the Tower of Babel.
_-_Google_Art_Project_-_edited.jpg)
This is another one of those passages I've read many times, especially in my childhood. I'm actually really surprised with what God spoke to me through this passage today though.
I'm going to get straight to the point today.
The verse that made me question the most was verse 6.
"then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them"
Was God a tad bit scared here that man was starting to have power in great numbers?
So did He have to separate them out of fear of them becoming greater than him?
Haha, of course not!
Man was thinking they could be God.
They thought they could reach God's standard.
But God knew, even if they managed to obtain all that power, they couldn't handle it. They would probably become corrupted with all that power.
Power isn't everything~
Only God can handle true power.
So here was a problem, man had decided they could possibly become God.
So as God always does, He had to find a solution to the problem.
He could have done many things.
He could have killed off those particular people.
He could have just destroyed the tower to show who's god.
He could have even wipe out their memories or intentions.
But He didn't.
He did something that had so much more purpose.
He created what we know as different cultures nowadays. He increased the diversity of us humans. He took another step to make us all more unique.
He 'guided' them to explore & inhabit more of this beautiful place He created.
They were completely in the wrong path.
They were sinning against God.
But God used that situation to fulfill an amazing plan of His.
The main point I would like to bring out is this.
"No matter how far we may have fallen, God can still use us to help fulfill His purpose."
Godbless~
Always True To His Word
Well I actually studied this passage yesterday, but due to school starting and all, I ran out of time to make the post. This really isn't going to be as easy I thought with school, but I'll do my best to carry on.
So the passage is Genesis 8.
After all the incidents that have previously happened, I feel this this is a great turn around, a great reminder that at the end of the storm is God holding His arms wide open for us~
The first words of the passage are already very compelling in itself.
"But God remembered Noah"
My Bible has a sidenote that says the 'remember' here means the same as to 'pay attention' to. I personally think that this makes the words so much stronger.
Pay attention really implies that God never lost attention of Noah, that Noah had God's full concentration. Isn't that pretty amazing? To have God's full attention & therefore complete protection.
I really feel that here, God wasn't just 'keeping a covenant' with Noah by protecting him from the flood, but He was taking the extra mile because He really loved Noah~
So shortly afterwards, the waters began to recede, life on earth was given another chance.
By now, Noah had been in the ark for a very long time. I'm sure it wasn't the most comfortable place to be, having been tossed around by the ocean for so long, having to live amongst animals, but he would finally be able to leave the ark soon!
So to give him an idea of the progress of waters receding, Noah sent out birds to check for him. After the third bird, Noah had proof that the earth had almost dry.
Not only that, he even decided to remove the covering and have a look with his own two eyes. It says in verse 13 "Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry." So why didn't he leave the ark? Why did he remain in the ark for more than an extra month? I'm sure he would've really wanted to leave, & finally be able to stand on solid ground. But he waited.
He waited for God's command. I really think it's really amazing how much He trusts God now. Even though he saw with his own eyes that the earth had dried, he still waited to God said it was safe. It took another month & more before the earth was completely dry, as it says in verse 14.
I'm sure alot of the times nowadays, we really rely on what we see to confirm it's true. We must see to make sure. And when we do see, we're so sure of ourselves. But here we can really learn from Noah, after so many confirmations of his own power, he still waited for God. And he was right to do so~
Then when he finally was able to step out of the ark, the first thing he did was thank God, by building an altar to Him. As it says in verse 20 "Then Noah built an altar to the LORD".
Would we have done the same after having to experience such poor living conditions for so long? Would we have only been so relieved & forgotten about God?
Well Noah definitely didn't, he thought of God first, He remembered & was extremely thankful for God's plan for his life, even though alot of it was extremely difficult & painful.
God then blesses Noah.
One phrase really stood out to me here.
In verse 22,
"As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest,"
Seedtime was obviously when people planted their seeds. But back then they didn't have machines, so I'm sure it would've been quite alot of work to walk a whole field & sprinkle seeds along the way.
Then in the harvest they would find out if all the hard work would be paid off.
At the end of this, God reassures us that both 'will never cease'.
It really reminds me that till now & till He comes back, we'll be expected to work hard on this earth. Work isn't something we should get away from or be lazy about. But at the same time, He assures us that with work comes results, comes rewards, comes the harvest~
So a key thing I picked up from this passage.
God payed attention to Noah.
It reminds me that God always takes the extra mile in His love for us. Are we just going to give Him some of us or none at all? Or are we going to give it all we've got as well?
Godbless~
So the passage is Genesis 8.
After all the incidents that have previously happened, I feel this this is a great turn around, a great reminder that at the end of the storm is God holding His arms wide open for us~
The first words of the passage are already very compelling in itself.
"But God remembered Noah"
My Bible has a sidenote that says the 'remember' here means the same as to 'pay attention' to. I personally think that this makes the words so much stronger.
Pay attention really implies that God never lost attention of Noah, that Noah had God's full concentration. Isn't that pretty amazing? To have God's full attention & therefore complete protection.
I really feel that here, God wasn't just 'keeping a covenant' with Noah by protecting him from the flood, but He was taking the extra mile because He really loved Noah~
So shortly afterwards, the waters began to recede, life on earth was given another chance.
By now, Noah had been in the ark for a very long time. I'm sure it wasn't the most comfortable place to be, having been tossed around by the ocean for so long, having to live amongst animals, but he would finally be able to leave the ark soon!
So to give him an idea of the progress of waters receding, Noah sent out birds to check for him. After the third bird, Noah had proof that the earth had almost dry.
Not only that, he even decided to remove the covering and have a look with his own two eyes. It says in verse 13 "Noah then removed the covering from the ark and saw that the surface of the ground was dry." So why didn't he leave the ark? Why did he remain in the ark for more than an extra month? I'm sure he would've really wanted to leave, & finally be able to stand on solid ground. But he waited.
He waited for God's command. I really think it's really amazing how much He trusts God now. Even though he saw with his own eyes that the earth had dried, he still waited to God said it was safe. It took another month & more before the earth was completely dry, as it says in verse 14.
I'm sure alot of the times nowadays, we really rely on what we see to confirm it's true. We must see to make sure. And when we do see, we're so sure of ourselves. But here we can really learn from Noah, after so many confirmations of his own power, he still waited for God. And he was right to do so~
Then when he finally was able to step out of the ark, the first thing he did was thank God, by building an altar to Him. As it says in verse 20 "Then Noah built an altar to the LORD".
Would we have done the same after having to experience such poor living conditions for so long? Would we have only been so relieved & forgotten about God?
Well Noah definitely didn't, he thought of God first, He remembered & was extremely thankful for God's plan for his life, even though alot of it was extremely difficult & painful.
God then blesses Noah.
One phrase really stood out to me here.
In verse 22,
"As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest,"
Seedtime was obviously when people planted their seeds. But back then they didn't have machines, so I'm sure it would've been quite alot of work to walk a whole field & sprinkle seeds along the way.
Then in the harvest they would find out if all the hard work would be paid off.
At the end of this, God reassures us that both 'will never cease'.
It really reminds me that till now & till He comes back, we'll be expected to work hard on this earth. Work isn't something we should get away from or be lazy about. But at the same time, He assures us that with work comes results, comes rewards, comes the harvest~
So a key thing I picked up from this passage.
God payed attention to Noah.
It reminds me that God always takes the extra mile in His love for us. Are we just going to give Him some of us or none at all? Or are we going to give it all we've got as well?
Godbless~
The Floodgates of Heaven Open
So today.. it happens..
In Genesis 7.
I found the first verse quite important.
"Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation." It didn't say most righteous or anything, it just said righteous. I think if there were anymore righteous people in that generation, God would've saved them just the same. In the same way, if we remain righteous even when the whole world is wicked, we can be assured we will be safe. We don't have to be the most righteous or anything, we just have to be right with God~
Then it goes on to record the instructions God gave Noah regarding the animals. Questions that left me wondering were, why seven of every clean animal and also birds as well? Seven seems to be coming up quite alot in the Bible at this point.
As I read verses 6-16, I noticed the latter part kind of repeats the part before, but with a bit more detail.
Maybe it was written like this for emphasis? To emphasize the importance of Noah, his family & all the animals, which would be the only living things on earth after the flood.
In verse 16, I was quite shocked at first at the words. "The the LORD shut him in." It sounds pretty harsh all of a sudden, after all the goodness God has done for Noah. But knowing what's to come, all the devastation, it's really actually once again God's love that shines through. Even if Noah, for some reason wanted one last look at earth, the flood was coming, & God wanted Him safe. He dragged him completely out of harm's way.
Now to the climax.. the flood...
It's actually quite a detailed description of the whole event if you ask me. Even includes some digits to show how much the oceans exceeded the mountains by. The repetition of 'rose greatly' also stands out to me. I think here God is really throwing out at us in huge emphasis of what actually happened. How devastating it really was and all the deaths that occurred due to it.
In a way, He wants us to KNOW and FEAR His wrath when sin corrupts. Though He isn't showing us this so that we may bring out His wrath, but so that we may walk in the completely opposite direction & bring out His love for us. Again, it's a warning, a huge one this time, at what has to happen if we turn away from Him - it's an act of love for us~
Verse 23 is a really nice little summary.
"Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that moved along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark." After what seems to have been God losing control previously, here God shows that He was always in complete control. He was able to kill off every single human except for the specific few He said He wouldn't kill. I'm sure the ark could have easily started leaking, or hit a mountain & broke, but God was most definitely in control. It once again reminds us that our life is truly in the goodness of God's hands & all we need to do is trust Him.
So some important things I picked up from this passage.
In verse 15, the animals "came to Noah and entered the ark". It's a clear example of God being with Noah throughout the whole of this difficult task. There was probably no way Noah could have, by himself, went to find animals like lions & bring them back to the ark without being eaten. It should remind us that if God tells us or gives us a very difficult task, we can be assured we won't be doing it by ourselves. As a matter of fact, this applies to any task He gives us.
Throughout the whole passage, though it gives quite a detailed description of the flood, it doesn't give us much about the destruction, about the deaths itself of humankind. It doesn't show us how the wicked men panicked, or even maybe turned their face to God once more. This shows that the flood with all the destruction & deaths it caused, WAS NOT the main point to this. What is important, is the fact that people who fear God are saved. God wants us to know that the most important thing about Him is His love for us, not His wrath~
Hope this helped.
Godbless~
In Genesis 7.
I found the first verse quite important.
"Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation." It didn't say most righteous or anything, it just said righteous. I think if there were anymore righteous people in that generation, God would've saved them just the same. In the same way, if we remain righteous even when the whole world is wicked, we can be assured we will be safe. We don't have to be the most righteous or anything, we just have to be right with God~
Then it goes on to record the instructions God gave Noah regarding the animals. Questions that left me wondering were, why seven of every clean animal and also birds as well? Seven seems to be coming up quite alot in the Bible at this point.
As I read verses 6-16, I noticed the latter part kind of repeats the part before, but with a bit more detail.
Maybe it was written like this for emphasis? To emphasize the importance of Noah, his family & all the animals, which would be the only living things on earth after the flood.
In verse 16, I was quite shocked at first at the words. "The the LORD shut him in." It sounds pretty harsh all of a sudden, after all the goodness God has done for Noah. But knowing what's to come, all the devastation, it's really actually once again God's love that shines through. Even if Noah, for some reason wanted one last look at earth, the flood was coming, & God wanted Him safe. He dragged him completely out of harm's way.
Now to the climax.. the flood...
It's actually quite a detailed description of the whole event if you ask me. Even includes some digits to show how much the oceans exceeded the mountains by. The repetition of 'rose greatly' also stands out to me. I think here God is really throwing out at us in huge emphasis of what actually happened. How devastating it really was and all the deaths that occurred due to it.
In a way, He wants us to KNOW and FEAR His wrath when sin corrupts. Though He isn't showing us this so that we may bring out His wrath, but so that we may walk in the completely opposite direction & bring out His love for us. Again, it's a warning, a huge one this time, at what has to happen if we turn away from Him - it's an act of love for us~
Verse 23 is a really nice little summary.
"Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that moved along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark." After what seems to have been God losing control previously, here God shows that He was always in complete control. He was able to kill off every single human except for the specific few He said He wouldn't kill. I'm sure the ark could have easily started leaking, or hit a mountain & broke, but God was most definitely in control. It once again reminds us that our life is truly in the goodness of God's hands & all we need to do is trust Him.
So some important things I picked up from this passage.
In verse 15, the animals "came to Noah and entered the ark". It's a clear example of God being with Noah throughout the whole of this difficult task. There was probably no way Noah could have, by himself, went to find animals like lions & bring them back to the ark without being eaten. It should remind us that if God tells us or gives us a very difficult task, we can be assured we won't be doing it by ourselves. As a matter of fact, this applies to any task He gives us.
Throughout the whole passage, though it gives quite a detailed description of the flood, it doesn't give us much about the destruction, about the deaths itself of humankind. It doesn't show us how the wicked men panicked, or even maybe turned their face to God once more. This shows that the flood with all the destruction & deaths it caused, WAS NOT the main point to this. What is important, is the fact that people who fear God are saved. God wants us to know that the most important thing about Him is His love for us, not His wrath~
Hope this helped.
Godbless~
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