The Annunciation, painted by Henry Ossawa Tanner in 1898.
Amos 4:6-13 (New International Version)
6 "I gave you empty stomachs [a] in every city
and lack of bread in every town,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the LORD.
7 "I also withheld rain from you
when the harvest was still three months away.
I sent rain on one town,
but withheld it from another.
One field had rain;
another had none and dried up.
8 People staggered from town to town for water
but did not get enough to drink,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the LORD.
9 "Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards,
I struck them with blight and mildew.
Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the LORD.
10 "I sent plagues among you
as I did to Egypt.
I killed your young men with the sword,
along with your captured horses.
I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the LORD.
11 "I overthrew some of you
as I [b] overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire,
yet you have not returned to me,"
declares the LORD.
12 "Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel,
and because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, O Israel."
13 He who forms the mountains,
creates the wind,
and reveals his thoughts to man,
he who turns dawn to darkness,
and treads the high places of the earth—
the LORD God Almighty is his name.
Footnotes:
a.Amos 4:6 Hebrew you cleanness of teeth
b.Amos 4:11 Hebrew God
Do you want the Good News or the bad news first? We'll start with truth; We are a fickle people, restless & hard to please. Scripture for Today blogspot looked two days ago at blesssings, we read:
Isaiah 65:23
They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the LORD, they and their descendants with them.
Hmmmm I wondered, where does that place me...I've lost an infant daughter. So, being part of the hard-to-please, the Prophets at the end of the Old Testament doesn't make me thrilled when I read they are the Scripture for today. I am officially a foot dragger. Wow, hard to please me.
Verse 6 - national unemployment - check, we have that. A 50 year drought, check. Water becoming the next oil, Texas billionaire buying up the aquifer, check. Bug creating sap and then fungus on my front trees, check.
But the power and beauty in verse 12 & 13!
~ prepare to meet your God, O Israel.
He who forms the mountains,
creates the wind,
and reveals his thoughts to man,
he who turns dawn to darkness,
and treads the high places of the earth—
the LORD God Almighty is his name.
The Prophets of the Old Testament witness and proclaim great injustice predicting the judgement of God. My problem is without Jesus, this convicts me. Now, the Good News: the Prophets were right, injustice prevails in such gigantic proportion God is about to intervene!
Mary, innocent teenager during Israel's occupation by the Roman Empire, knew something of suffering; she lived what the ending Old Testament Prophets wrote about.
Luke 1:46-56
And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For he hath looked upon the low estate of his handmaid: For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; And holy is his name.
And his mercy is unto generations and generations On them that fear him.
He hath showed strength with his arm; He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their heart. He hath put down princes from their thrones, And hath exalted them of low degree.
The hungry he hath filled with good things; And the rich he hath sent empty away. He hath given help to Israel his servant, That he might remember mercy.
Mary might have wondered over Isaiah 65:23, she might have wondered about Amos and the other prophets, but like us, Mary had not been given up on.
Isaiah 7:10-13
Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, 11 "Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights." But Ahaz said, "I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test." Then Isaiah said, "Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
The Lord did not give up on Ahaz, on Mary and He will not give up on us.
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