Tag Archives: Amos

Divine discomfort..

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Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?…If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness and your night will become like the noonday.

(Isa 58.6&7,9&10)

You who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground…you hate the one who reproves in court and despise him who tells the truth. You trample on the poor and force him to give you grain…You oppress the righteous and take bribes and you deprive the poor of justice in the courts….Seek good, not evil, that you may live…Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts.

(Am 5.7,10,11-15)

With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?….He has showed you , O man what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

(Mic 6.6&8)

“Then the King will say..,’Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…..whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

(Matt 25.34-40)

Reading recently through the prophecy of Isaiah, I was overwhelmed time and again by the contrast between the glorious future prophesied for God’s chosen people, and the reality in which they lived –  in which we live now. We are in-between people; saved and assured of an eternal life in glory yet still living in a broken and pain-riddled world. We live with the tension between God’s promised rest, fulfillment and security, and the appalling suffering which exists across the globe.

It is tempting to withdraw into a shell of comfort, shutting out troubling pictures of reality and thinking of our own security and hope of eternal life. But..the majority of Christians in the world today cannot do that, since they live without most of what we in the prosperous nations take for granted. They endure that tension, as poverty, war, violence and climate change make each day an ordeal in survival – all the while believing that God’s promises are to them, for their peace, their flourishing too. If we who are wealthy proclaim a faith that does nothing to address the reality of suffering, and the agonising tension between the ‘now and the not-yet’ of fulfillment, then we have nothing to offer our world, we have no ‘good news’.

I would make so bold as to say that any Christian who can live without being profoundly disturbed by the state of the planet – climate, ecology, society, economy – is ignoring God’s clearly revealed message in scripture.

We serve a God of justice – where then is our concern to see justice for the oppressed, the ones who have no voices, who suffer at the hands of unfair trading systems and corrupt governance?

We serve a God of compassion and mercy – where then is our concern for the people who are being exploited and broken – the trafficked sex-workers, the debt-slaves, the prostitutes and addicts, the mentally ill, the abused children, and the confused and frail elderly?

We serve a Creator God, we are his stewards commissioned to cherish his good work – where then is our concern for the flourishing of the planet on which we live; for the climate systems on which our lives depend, and which human greed is gradually destroying?

I have been profoundly challenged in these days by my complacency – to argue that the problems are too big for me is no argument at all. God doesn’t ask me to fix it, but he does ask whether I care? If my faith does not issue in works, it is dead. I am called not only to be a child of God, but a servant, a witness, a worker.

I am praying that I might be willing to live with the divine discomfort caused by a restless spirit, one unable to do nothing in the face of the brokenness of our world. I am praying that I might find where God wants me to use the small gifts I can offer – time, intellect and anything else I can bring – in bearing witness to the love of God for this world and all its people. I am praying that I might be willing to serve in a very small way, in a great campaign where I may not see the outcome, but be content in having obeyed the call.

 

It was the only way..

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On that same night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn of both people and animals…I am the Lord. The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.

(Ex 12.12&13)

For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement..

(Lev 17.11)

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me…All who see me mock me…”He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him.”….they pierce my hands and feet. All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment

(Ps 22.1,7,16-18)

I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight….I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.

(Am 8.9&10)

But when Christ came..he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption..without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness..Christ..appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself..

(Heb 9.12,22&26)

‘Like mourning for an only son and the end of a bitter day…’Those words jumped out at me recently when taking part in a bible study on Amos, as the Lord spoke through his prophet of the pain and anguish of the day when the full price for human rebellion against God would be paid.

The narrative of the Bible makes it so clear that humanity is incapable of keeping to the covenant which God has made with them; our hearts are unable to remain faithful to God, even when we are most in earnest. If we do not sin by falling away from God, we sin by trying through our own efforts to remain close to him – as the Pharisees were doing in Jesus’ day, and making legalism and ritual a means (as they thought) to salvation. From the beginning, God made it clear that sin would have to be dealt with, and his righteous anger satisfied before true peace could exist, and we could once more enjoy fellowship with our creator.

God’s anger against sin is an expression of his holiness, it is absolutely just (unlike most human anger), and he cannot simply set aside our sin because he loves us without violating his nature. If God is to love and welcome us into his presence again, then his perfect wrath must be satisfied – the full penalty for sin must be paid. While this may sound extreme to many in our day, the bible makes it clear that the problem is our lack of understanding of God’s holiness, not his anger with sin.

The blood sacrifices of the Old Testament were a foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice – of the perfect Passover Lamb who would take God’s wrath so that we might be protected, provided for. Blood had to be shed, and in Christ, the only spotless person who ever lived, a perfect substitute for humankind was provided. But as well as our perfect Passover Lamb,  he is the only begotten of the Father, the beloved one. And so on Good Friday, when the full weight of sin was finally laid upon the son, what agony entered the heart of the Father, and what grief into the son, as they endured that separation which was the proper fate of humankind.

We cannot ever fully comprehend the pain of that hour, and indeed this is cause for humble thanksgiving, since we could not have borne it. Christ did all for us, and then offered it freely as his love-gift, and so we should surely fall in worship and praise as we accept him. God mourned for his only son, and endured the bitterness of that dreadful and glorious day – because of his unfathomable, unaccountable, unstoppable love for humankind.

Surely, our praise this Holy Week should glorify the Father who loved us; the Son who died for us, and the Spirit by whom we receive the faith to believe in and accept the freedom and new life which have been bought for us at such a price.

There is a green hill far away, beside a city wall, where the dear Lord was crucified, who died to save us all.

We may not know, we cannot tell, what pains he had to bear; but we believe it was for us he hung and suffered there.

He died that we might be forgiven, he died to make us good, that we might go at last to heaven, saved by his precious blood.

There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin, he only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in.

Oh, dearly, dearly has he loved, and we must love him too; and trust in his redeeming blood, and try his works to do.

(Cecil Frances Alexander 1848)

Crushed? not quite..

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Before the mountains were born or you  brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God…for a thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night. You sweep men away in the sleep of death..who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due to you. Teach us to number our days aright, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

(Ps 90.2,4,5,11&12)

The Lord, the Lord Almighty, he who touches the earth and it melts, and all who live in it mourn…He who builds his lofty palace in the heavens and sets its foundation on the earth, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the land – the Lord is his name.

(Am 9.5&6)

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side; but not crushed; perplexed but not in despair…For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

(2Cor 4.6-8,17&18)

Relent, O Lord! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants. Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. (Ps 90.13&14)

From the hospital corridors, the deathbeds, and the mortuaries; from the pharmacies and the hospital auxiliaries locker rooms…the cry goes up, How long!? Doctors and nurses are being crushed by the strain of their labours, by making decisions about who will be given treatment and who will not, by finding themselves incapable, through lack of resources, of offering the care which they are pledged to give. They are violating their calling, and there is no sign of the burden decreasing.

From the homes of the small business owners, the self-employed, in private despair and hopelessness, they contemplate the loss of dreams, income, provision for their families, security for the future. The cry goes up, How long?! The livelihoods and mental health of millions around the world are under threat, and the burden of responsibility for others is crushing our traders, our craftsmen and women.

From the chaotic homes of far too many children, where there is no order, no security, no nurture, only threat of violence, neglect and abuse of every kind, the cry goes up, How long? So many social workers and educators know all too well that they have shut up millions of young people in places and with adults who are far from good for them, and the damage which is even now being done is incalculable. The burden of pain, fear and destruction is crushing our most vulnerable.

From the corridors of government, where decisions are being made without adequate information, where there is no precedent to guide, and where the consequences are unimaginable, the cry goes up How long?! Politicians and leaders of every nation are scrambling to protect, provide and somehow salvage something from the wreckage, wondering all the while how history will judge them, and what hope will remain for the future…The burden of responsibility is ferocious and relentless, and where can they find courage to go on bearing it?

Heavenly Father, as your children, we are given your heart of love for this fallen and broken world, and so we share in some measure the pain which is being experienced in acute measure by millions – and we taste the fear which permeates every conversation and fresh  news bulletin describing the progress of this affliction around the world. Help us to continually cast this burden of pain and fear upon you – we cannot bear it, and are not meant to, but it ought to drive us to prayer.

Heavenly Father, as we see the destruction and loss, and glimpse the future consequences of this event, we quail, and tremble for our planet. All too many are already using this pandemic event as another reason to not only dismiss you, but to belittle and deride our faith in you. Your name is not being glorified in this by those who cannot and will not recognise your lordship, but rather you are cursed for not caring enough. We do not have ready answers to those who curse and dismiss, and we know that in their eyes we are fools for trusting you.

Dear Lord and Father of all mankind, as your servants strive to trust you in these days, to model hope and love, may you have mercy on this planet. Accomplish all that you have purposed to do through this pandemic, and may it bring glory to your name. And Lord, for all those already breaking, mourning, despairing, impoverished, we pray – in your power O God, have mercy and bring them to the only true ground for hope. May millions yet turn to you in faith and find Christ, with all the light of your glory shining in his face.

The heaviness of holiness

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For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. All the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendour and majesty are before him; strength and glory are in his sanctuary….Worship the Lord in the splendour of his holiness; tremble before him all the earth..then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the Lord, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.

(Ps 96.4-6, 9,12&13)

This is what the Lord says to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live;..Seek the Lord and live…Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good…Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light…I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them…but let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never failing stream!

(Am 5.4,6,14&15,18,21,22&24)

But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

(Rom 3.21-24)

Jesus grew up in a devout Jewish family, with the traditions of temple worship, synagogue teaching, and the books of what we call the Old Testament were his only scripture. We forget this at our peril, and if we avoid studying these books because they make us uncomfortable, or if we claim that we don’t need them in order to understand the gospel, we are in danger of developing a very innaccurate understanding of God. Jesus was not ashamed of the God revealed in the Old Testament(He called him “Father”), he did not dismiss the narratives, or set aside the wisdom and the prophets. In fact, he claimed that these scriptures foretold his coming and that he was their fulfillment.

Our housegroup is currently studying the prophetic words given to Amos, a short book, full of grievous warnings of judgement to come on the nation of Israel. In fact, they would shortly be invaded, their rulers captured, and would never exist again as a distinct entity – the end had come. At the time when Amos spoke, they were enjoying political prominence and economic prosperity – but there was a huge gulf between rich and poor, and the religious systems were approving, rather than challenging this situation. The elite were secure and scornful of the threat which Amos described, deaf to repeated entreaties to see through their worldly security to their real danger in the eyes of a holy God. Their religious observances made them feel safe, but through the prophet, God speaks of his abhorrence and anger at their behaviour.

This message recurs through the narratives and prophetic books, as God calls out to his people to remember that their hope lies in him and not in rituals, good deeds, and an abundance of religious laws and observances. God longs for their hearts to be devoted to him, to be truly Lord of their lives – so that good deeds flow as a part of their worship and obedience, not in order to earn his favour.

The truth is that God’s holiness is a burden too great to be borne by fallen humanity. Our innate sinfulness makes it impossible for us to be devoted to him as he desires – and the Old Testament bears witness to this as the covenant people repeatedly fall into idol worship and rebellion, or legalistic and superficial adherence to God. But all through the stories and prophecies, it is clear that when people recognise their sinfulness, realise how completely it alienates them from God who alone gives them hope, they throw themselves upon his mercy, and by faith depend upon him for salvation. This is the faith which Abraham displayed in trusting that God would fulfill the promise – that faith which was credited to him as righteousness.

The message of the Old Testament is that humanity needs a saviour, one who can deal with their sin, and transform them to live as God’s people ought to live – creating in them new hearts and transforming their minds by his power so that we can begin to live truly as companions of a holy God. We need a saviour to bear the proper wrath of holiness against sin, to see that justice is done, so that God can welcome us into his presence and call us his own.

The prophets call us to a profound awareness of our own sin and helplessness; they magnify the holiness of God until it is a great weight which threatens to destroy us. And so they greatly glorify our Lord Jesus, who in his life, death and resurrection opened the only way by which sinful humanity can enter into the awesome presence of the Almighty. Let us rejoice in the one who came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, and give him all our praise!

 

when the picture is not clear..

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The Lord is the strength of his people, a fortress of salvation for his anointed one. 

(Ps 28.8)

Seek the Lord and live, or he will sweep through the house of Joseph like a fire..Seek good and not evil, that you may live..Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts

(Am 5.6,14&15)

With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?…He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

(Mic 6.6&8)

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good and pleases God our Saviour, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth..

(1 Tim.2.1-4)

I am a Scot, I live in the United Kingdom, and for the last 47 years, I have been part of the European Union. Our laws and institutions, our culture, our political and social priorities, our very society itself, has been profoundly influenced by membership of this particular economic union, this family of nations, birthed in the aftermath of war with a vision of unity, peace and prosperity.

And now, my nation has decided to leave, to loosen the ties and pursue an independent course in the world. Some of our people are very glad, others deeply distressed, and many like myself unsure because the future is so uncertain. We all live with uncertainty – the bible makes it clear that none of us can presume on our tomorrows in any way – but political and economic change on this scale is particularly unsettling, and I want to reflect on my duty as a believer in this situation.

Ultimately, these great national events are a challenge to my perceptions of security – in what do I hope and trust? If it is democratic government, established institutions, economic prosperity and growth, then I have good reasons to fear what might happen. Our world is troubled; unresolved tensions are re-shaping political loyalties, and power is wielded by invisible forces beyond the influence of democracy.

The prophets of the Old Testament knew all about these uncertainties, as did the apostles in the New Testament. Both groups call repeatedly for faithful people who know God to focus on him as their only true security, to seek to live according to his word and to represent his character in the world. What does this look like for God’s people?

We live lightly in the world – knowing that we have an abiding home with God in the yet-to-be-revealed glory of a new creation. The troubles and trials of this world cannot steal that inheritance from us, and so we are not cast into despair by them as those who have no hope. The looming giants of this world do not strike terror into our hearts, because we know that our God is on the throne, and Christ has triumphed over them. Their speech may be loud, but God’s still small voice is stronger.

We live responsibly in the world – knowing that we are stewards of creation, with responsibility to use all God’s gifts for the blessing of all his people. Our attitudes to our own consumption, our choices, the impact of our lives, should be driven by a desire for righteousness in every relationship, for justice, and with compassion for those who suffer because of the greed of others.

We live gladly in the world – rejoicing in the abundance and sharing our joy with the Giver of good gifts. We live as those who have good things to share – because we do! In addition to our material wealth, we have the infinitely greater treasures of the gospel itself to share with all mankind. We have been commissioned to speak good news – is not salvation our most precious possession, the best thing we can possibly share with our neighbours?

So as I in my small place consider how God calls me to live in the new, post-EU Scotland, I will remember my calling.

I will pray for those who rule; that we might have peace and freedom to proclaim the gospel of truth in our land. I will remember that our leaders are frail and sinning human beings, just as much in need of God’s love and forgiveness as I am.

I will raise my voice and use my words in support of justice, and the extending of mercy to the victims of oppression and inequality. I will remember that those who oppress are also broken people, sinners for whom Christ died.

I will remember that I am small, and that God is great; and I will boast only in Christ, not my own wisdom. I will remember that I am a sinner, and only God is perfect. I will pursue godliness, humility and faithfulness – not so that by these I may be saved, but because by them, others might see Christ in me, and find salvation in him.

I do not need to see the big picture, because God has given me a job to do which is within my reach, and I choose to trust him with all the rest!