Before it's too late

Before it's too late

Amos 7:1~9

□ Praise and Sharing

Hymn 531 The merciful Lord is calling

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In some cases, we pretend not to notice our children's mistakes and move on, but there are times when we point out their mistakes and scold them harshly. When children are younger, they may be puzzled by their parents' attitude, but as they grow older, they become able to understand and accept their parents' reactions. A parent with character does not just reprimand or forgive, but puts the child's happiness and health first and decides on an appropriate method for each situation. God is like that too. God is neither the one who unconditionally forgives us nor the one who unconditionally punishes us. Although he is patient for us, he also disciplines for us.

 

□ Words and Sharing

1. Amos first sees two visions.(vv.1~6)

1) What were the visions that Amos saw (verses 1-4)?

1 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: behold, he was forming locusts when the latter growth was just beginning to sprout, and behold, it was the latter growth after the king's mowings. 2 When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said, “O Lord GOD, please forgive! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” 3 The LORD relented concerning this: “It shall not be,” said the LORD. 4 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: behold, the Lord GOD was calling for a judgment by fire, and it devoured the great deep and was eating up the land.

 (1) First vision (verses 1-2)

The illusion of grasshoppers eating all the grass on the ground

 (2) Second vision (verse 4)

An illusion of fire swallowing up the great sea and trying to eat the land as well.

 

2) What does Amos repeatedly ask God for (verses 2, 5)?

2 When they had finished eating the grass of the land, I said, “O Lord GOD, please forgive! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!” 5 Then I said, “O Lord GOD, please cease! How can Jacob stand? He is so small!”

 

Amos said(prayed) to the Sovereign LORD, “Please forgive and stop! How can Jacob stand, for he is weak?”

 

3) What is God’s consistent response to Amos’ prayer (verses 3, 6)?

 

3 The LORD relented concerning this: “It shall not be,” said the LORD. 6 The LORD relented concerning this: “This also shall not be,” said the Lord GOD.

 

The LORD has changed his mind about this, saying, “This will not happen.”

 

<Sharing 1> God predicted judgment, but changed his mind every time the prophet prayed. In this way, God's patience and mercy are greater than human disobedience. Have you ever experienced God’s long-suffering and forgiving grace?

 

I heard stories of the leaders and members of the vicious criminals, the Makga Sect and the Most High Sect, repenting their sins and being transformed.

2. Amos sees the third vision of God standing by the wall holding a plumb line (verses 7-9).

1) What does God, who holds the plumb line, say about his people (verse 8)?

8 And the LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel; I will never again pass by them;

The Lord says, “I will set a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel, and I will never forgive them any more.”

2) What happens when God’s judgment comes (verse 9)?

9 the high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”

Isaac's high places will be desolate and Israel's sanctuaries will be destroyed. God will rise up and strike Jeroboam’s house with the sword.

 

<Sharing 2> A plumb line is a tool for measuring the verticality of a wall. The Word of God is a plumb line that helps us realize our sin. How do my thoughts and life match when I put the plumb line of the Word together? If you have an experience where you discovered and corrected your tilted and crooked life thanks to the plumb line of the Word, please share it.

 

In difficult raising children, it also says, Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4), and in the love chapter of 1 Corinthians 13, love even if I speak in the tongues of men or of angels. Without it, it becomes a sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.

4 Love is patient, love is kind, love does not envy, love does not boast, is not puffed up.

5 It does not behave rudely, is not self-seeking, is not provoked, keeps no record of evil,

6 It does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices with the truth.

The plumb line of these words straightened out my tilted and crooked life.

 

<Sharing 3> There is no prophet’s prayer in the plumb line vision. Because God’s judgment has been confirmed. God is not infinitely forgiving, and there is an end to the withholding of punishment. What do we need to turn back and repent before that time comes? Let us pray together that we may realize our mistakes.

 

Let us pray together so that we, our families, relatives, believers, neighbors, and leaders and people of all countries may realize the mistakes of hatred, strife, jealousy, selfishness, idolatry, and leaving God, and turn to God and live changed lives.

 

□ Let's Pray Together

 

Lord, help us to check our hearts against the plumb line of Your Word and to build our lives each day.

Help us, our families, relatives, believers, neighbors, and leaders and people of all countries realize the mistakes of hatred, strife, jealousy, selfishness, idolatry, and leaving God, and turn to You and live changed lives!

 

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