repentance – Be Still…

Amos 5:21-24 – What Does God Want?

Our reading may seem a bit obscure at first, so it’s helpful to have a little context. Amos was a prophet living in the time of the more well-known prophet, Isaiah, who was used by God to warn the Israelite people of coming destruction. Amos also brought this warning to the people, and just verses before, he was pleading with the people to repent.

Despite being part of a section warning people of the coming judgment, Amos speaks wisdom to us in support of our theme, “Living as God Desires.” What do we see in that regard? Just a few verses earlier, in verses 14 and 15, Amos says this in his cry to repent: “Do what is good and run from evil so that you may live! Then the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will be your helper, just as you have claimed. Hate evil and love what is good; turn your courts into true halls of justice. Perhaps even yet the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies will have mercy on the remnant of his people.” Continue reading “Amos 5:21-24 – What Does God Want?”

Job 42:1-6 – How Job Responds to God

Read Job 42:1-6

Job was clearly remorseful for all he had said about God. Especially now that God had finally come forward. Yet who would be prepared for God to say the things he did? Boldly Job took responsibility for being the one who questioned God’s “wisdom with such ignorance.”

To acknowledge your sinfulness so directly and completely takes courage. Job couldn’t help but feel deep guilt and regret, and he faced it head on. Don’t people tend to want to hide their sins and be seen as good? We can’t hide our sins from God and Job knew it. Continue reading “Job 42:1-6 – How Job Responds to God”

Nehemiah 9:4-37 – Prayer of Confession

Read Nehemiah 9:4-37

What a prayer! One of the elements we often forget in our prayer time is to give adoration to God. We do this when we tell him how great he is. The Levite leaders are showing us a fine example of this as their prayer begins! Brilliantly, they recount God’s hand at work in the lives of their ancestors.

At times, I felt like I was reading a sermon and not a prayer of confession. God knows history better than anyone, but it was a good reminder for the people to hear who were praying this prayer with the Levite leaders. They need to hear how their ancestors messed up, mistreated God, and how that all turned around. You never know who in the crowd may not have heard all of the stories passed down from generations or been exposed to God’s words before. We are wise when we can learn from the mistakes of others, namely our ancestors.

Ezra 10 – A Fresh Start

Read Ezra 10

The book of Ezra closes with a plan of cleansing agreed to by the people. Our last reading identified the problem, and we saw Ezra’s response was to earnestly pray. Today’s reading picks up right there with many other people joining Ezra in his lament.

Were you surprised at how easily the people agreed with Ezra? The plan was put in place to remove the pagan spouses from the land to cleanse the land of foreigners who would not share in the devotion to the LORD, respecting his laws and decrees. The purpose of this cleansing was to remove the “poison” of unbelief from spreading.

Nahum 1:1-11 – The Sides of God

Read Nahum 1:1-11

The book of Nahum is only three chapters long, and it’s one of the minor prophets that doesn’t get a lot of attention by church leadership when planning worship services! While we may encounter some harsh language, we need to keep in mind that Nahum was prophesying to a stubborn group of people who were refusing to repent.

Historically, Nahum’s focus is on Nineveh, and we’ll see the prediction and celebration of Nineveh’s demise. Nineveh was the center of the Assyrian empire, and the Assyrians had been used by God to bring Israel to its knees for their own rebellion and sinfulness. We encountered Nineveh before in the book of Jonah.