Suggested Readings To Read Through The Bible In A Year
Tuesday July 14, 2009 Amos 7-9 & Hosea 12
Amos 8:2
"What do you see, Amos?" he asked.
"A basket of ripe fruit," I answered.
Then the Lord said to me, "The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
I read about an apple farmer whose yellow delicious crop was nearly destroyed by hail. Every place on that apples that had been hit by hail stones turned brown – so his apples were spotted. Trying to salvage something from this money crop he came up with the marketing idea – don’t buy yellow delicious apples that don’t have brown spots because that means they were not tree ripened!
The Lord shows Amos a picture of ripened fruit . . . very obviously ripened fruit. There comes that time when fruit is ripe beyond being edible, and that is what Amos is seeing. God said to him that is a picture of this nation of Israel. There is no turning back now, judgment is coming. The signs that the “fruit” was rotten were
the trampling of the needy and poor
the indifference to real worship of the living God
the dishonesty in business
the exploitation of the weak and socially powerless (verses 4-6)
Those were the things that God saw and said they cannot go on in this fashion, there are going to be consequences to pay!
We live in a day where the spots of ripening are appearing in significant amount in our nation. These are not spots that indicate “tree ripened quality” – they are the spots that indicate ripeness for judgment. They are the kind of spots that behoove us as Christians to repent and pray for our nation.
John Wesley once said:“Making an open stand against all the ungodliness and unrighteousness which overspreads our land as a flood is one of the noblest ways of confessing Christ in the face of His enemies.
Suggested Readings To Read Through The Bible In A Year
Wednesday July 15, 2009 1 Chronicles 1-3 & Hosea 13
Thursday July 16, 2009 1 Chronicles 4-6 & Hosea 14
Friday July 17, 2009 1 Chronicles 7-9 & Song of Solomon 1
Saturday July 18, 2009 1 Chronicles 10-12 & Song of Solomon 2