THE LORD SPOKE (December 17)

Daily Reflections from Scripture:

Amos 7-9

When God is silent it’s awful! It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes it’s His only way to get our attention. Having pled with us in so many ways, He resorts to silence and the heavens shut up like brass (Deut. 28:23).

• I Samuel 28:6 - After turning away for so long, when Saul finally inquired of the Lord, He “did not answer him”.
• Ezekiel 7:26 - Sunk in sin, Israel “will try to get a vision from the prophet” but it will be only silence and “calamity upon calamity”.
• Ezekiel 20:1-3 - Because they waited so long, “‘I will not let you inquire of me’, declares the Sovereign Lord.”
• Micah 3:4,7 - Crying out will do no good for “he will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done.” He won’t answer.

In Amos’ day it was even worse. God says, “I will fix my eyes on them for evil and not for good” (Amos 9:4). Because of the nation’s sin, He says, “I will destroy it from the face of the earth” (Amos 9:8a). But He cannot forget His covenant. He cannot because He will not. In the next breath He says, “yet I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob” (Amos 9:8b).

Because of His promise to David, there will be a restoration.

In that day I will restore David’s fallen tent.
I will repair its broken places, restore its ruins,
and build it as it used to be.... (Amos 9:11)

The word for David’s “tent” is sukkah, or “hut”. It is a reminder both of David’s humble beginnings and of the sorry estate to which His kingdom or dynasty had fallen. This messianic promise is then followed by a glorious description (vs. 13-15) where one season runs into the next with no interruption, indicating unparalleled prosperity for Israel. Previous predictions of destruction (Amos 5:9), dearth (Amos 5:11), and deportation (Amos 5:27) are all reversed and the book concludes with the promise that Israel will “never again be uprooted from the land” (Amos 9:15).

P.S. This last promise constitutes an absolute proof that Amos’ prophecy is yet future.


Proverbs 17

Choose the better way! Don’t be content with just a good thing - go for the best. Solomon has given several recommendations in this category in recent chapters, adds a couple here in chapter 17, and several more in what follows. Take a look:

• Prov. 15:16 - Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil.
• Prov. 15:17 - Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened calf with hatred.
• Prov. 16:8 - Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice.
• Prov. 16:19 - Better to be lowly in spirit and among the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud.
• Prov. 16:32 - Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city.
• Prov. 17:1 - Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting, with strife.
• Prov. 17:12 - Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.
• Prov. 19:1 - Better a poor man whose walk is blameless than a fool whose lips are perverse.
• Prov. 21:9 - Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.
• Prov. 21:19 (c.f. Prov. 25:24) - Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.

Martha did well to serve the Lord but Jesus said “Mary has chosen what is better” (Lk. 10:42).

Good, better, or best. Which will it be?