IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

Daily Bread

Prepare to Meet Your God

Date: Aug. 19, 2019

Passage

Amos 4:1-13 (ESV)

  “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan,
    who are on the mountain of Samaria,
  who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,
    who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’
  The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness
    that, behold, the days are coming upon you,
  when they shall take you away with hooks,
    even the last of you with fishhooks.
  And you shall go out through the breaches,
    each one straight ahead;
    and you shall be cast out into Harmon,”
      declares the LORD.
  “Come to Bethel, and transgress;
    to Gilgal, and multiply transgression;
  bring your sacrifices every morning,
    your tithes every three days;
  offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened,
    and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them;
    for so you love to do, O people of Israel!”
      declares the Lord GOD.

  “I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
    and lack of bread in all your places,
  yet you did not return to me,”
      declares the LORD.
  “I also withheld the rain from you
    when there were yet three months to the harvest;
  I would send rain on one city,
    and send no rain on another city;
  one field would have rain,
    and the field on which it did not rain would wither;
  so two or three cities would wander to another city
    to drink water, and would not be satisfied;
  yet you did not return to me,”
      declares the LORD.
  “I struck you with blight and mildew;
    your many gardens and your vineyards,
    your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured;
  yet you did not return to me,”
      declares the LORD.
10   “I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt;
    I killed your young men with the sword,
  and carried away your horses,
    and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;
  yet you did not return to me,”
      declares the LORD.
11   “I overthrew some of you,
    as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
    and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning;
  yet you did not return to me,”
      declares the LORD.
12   “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;
    because I will do this to you,
    prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”
13   For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind,
    and declares to man what is his thought,
  who makes the morning darkness,
    and treads on the heights of the earth—
    the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name!

Daily Bread

Key Verse: 4:12

  “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;
    because I will do this to you,
    prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”

1. The Israelites will be taken away (1-5)

Amos prophesied that the LORD would allow the Israelites to be taken away with hooks. An enemy nation would lead them through the breaches in the wall. This happened when the Assyrians invaded Samaria in 722 B.C. The Israelites brought it upon themselves. Their women oppressed the poor and were self-absorbed. Their sacrifices and offerings were meaningless to God. God wanted the wealthy and influential to be just, righteous and compassionate.

2. You have not returned to me (6-13)

At various times, God had beset the Israelites with famine, drought, locusts, mildew, blight, plagues and war. But neither suffering nor even death led the people to repentance. So the LORD Almighty, who made the mountains and knows our thoughts, told them to prepare to meet him through judgment.

Prayer: Prayer: Sovereign Lord, I repent of my sins and the sins of my people. Have mercy on us and heal our land.

One Word: God judges sin

Daily Bread

“i Am with You and Will Not Leave You”

Genesis 28:1-22

Key Verse: 28:15

Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

Read More

Intro Daily