For a description of the (Y2) reading plan, see the “About” page.
Luke 23
The end of this chapter sparked an interesting thought in me this morning. Jesus’ death and burial took place on Preparation Day, right before the Sabbath. So, after seeing where Jesus’ body had been laid, they returned home and prepared his burial spices and perfumes. “But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.” (Lk. 23:56b). The thought that occurred to me is that one could say that it was during this time – on the Sabbath – that Jesus did the work that saved us. That made me think of all those times, and Luke mentions many of them, that Jesus healed on the Sabbath.
One such instance was back in Luke 13, where I mentioned that Jesus healed on the Sabbath with intention to demonstrate the purpose of the Sabbath. I see now that truth goes even deeper than I realized. Jesus healed a bent over woman in that chapter and He said of her, “Then should not this woman…be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” (From Lk. 13:16). Well, we are all that woman. We were bound by Satan, but on the Sabbath Jesus set us free. So the day that God rested is also the day that He worked so that we, too, could find rest.
Amos 1-2
Amos starts with God’s judgment on Israel’s neighbors before moving to her. Compare and contrast the behaviors of Israel with her neighbors, and God’s judgment of both. Funny how God attributes each declaration of judgment on the various nations to four sins, but then, except in the case of Israel, only names one. Poetic license, I suppose. Or perhaps there is some significance to the structure of the statement, “For three sins, even for four”. I’m at a loss there.
What I noticed, though, is that God called out all of the foreign nations for their treatment of His people. Judah and Israel, however, He called out because of their faithlessness to Him. You can’t really say that the foreign nations were faithless to God, because they were not under covenant with Him. Yet they still opposed God. They did not fear Him and so abused what was His. Such defiance against God will never end well.
God’s judgment against Israel was different, even from that against Judah, presumably because Amos’ prophecy was directed at them. There may be something, or even several somethings, I am missing in the importance of Amos’ approach, but one thing is clear in all of it. Nobody escapes God’s judgment. We have all opposed God in one form or another, so are all deserving of His fire, and not one of our supposed strongholds can withstand it. Neither the swift nor the strong, weapons nor horses, fight nor flight will save us. It kind of makes me want to just surrender to God now and be done with it. Which I think may be part of the point.
Ps. 142
What is the cry of your heart today? If you could ask God for one thing, what is it? What makes you feel desperate? Why is it when we are down, we feel so alone? And what is it about feeling so alone that launches us into little pity parties? David throws a typical one here in this Psalm. “Look and see, there is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life.” (Ps. 142:4). I recall Elijah laying a similar argument before God. But David was not alone. He had probably 400 or more people following and supporting him. Still, he clearly felt all alone.
Though he threw his little pity party, I think David’s Psalm also shows us the reason we have this tendency. I think this feeling of loneliness is something God hardwired into us so that when our imitation fortresses fall we might turn to Him. That’s what David did. He laid out his complaint, threw his pity party, and then said, “I cry to you, LORD; I say, ‘You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.’” (Ps. 142:5). If we can remember that we have God, then perhaps we can remember that we have everything we need. Because God is always more than enough.