09
Jun '24

June 7, 2024

Posted on 9Jun CATEGORIES: General

09
Jun '24
I have been watching a series on the History Channel called Alone. They leave individuals alone on an island off of the coast of Canada to see if they can survive the weather and the animals. Half a million dollars is waiting for the individual who can outlast all of them. Four of them tapped out in under twenty four hours due to howling wolves and roaming bears. One contestant said “I didn’t sign up to be stalked by a bunch of bears.” The video camera that was next to his tent showed two big black bears sniffing right next to his tent. Though they did not attack him they seemed too curious in him and he called for the rescue crew to extract him out of his area. Had he stayed, there may have been a day of reckoning in which he would only have his knife to try and keep away two black bears that would want him for food. In our text today Amos reminds the people of Israel that a day was coming when a man would flee a lion only to find a bear or sit home in safety only to be bitten by a snake. 

18 Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! 

      Why would you have the day of the LORD? 

      It is darkness, and not light, 

      19 as if a man fled from a lion, 

      and a bear met him, 

      or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, 

      and a serpent bit him. 

      20 Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, 

      and gloom with no brightness in it? 

  21 “I hate, I despise your feasts, 

      and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. 

    Amos 5:18–22 (ESV)

Sometimes in life we wish for punishment or the Day of the Lord to come on those who have offended us, caused us pain, or have gone against those commandments of God that we believe are the important ones to be followed. Yet we fail to look at ourselves in a mirror. We fail to remember our own failings and shortcomings with others and especially with God. In war when bombs are dropped from a plane the ground troops always need to make sure they are not dropped too close to them or they will suffer the same catastrophe as their enemies. I wonder if instead of the Lord bringing harm or the Day of the Lord on others that we should instead pray for forgiveness and blessings that might flow over them and onto us. For when we were still sinners, Christ died for us. We should never forget that we too were not deserving of the love of God and His forgiveness poured out to us. If we want to be more like God then less days of judgment and more days of forgiveness.

Pastor Aaron Kruse

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