Edition 39 of my Pride study

Friday, October 7th

Edition 39 of my Pride study.

Amos 8:1-14
1 This is what the Sovereign LORD showed me: a basket of ripe fruit. 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.

3 "In that day," declares the Sovereign LORD, "the songs in the temple will turn to wailing. Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!"

4 Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, 5 saying, "When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?" - skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, 6 buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat. 7 The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: "I will never forget anything they have done. 8 "Will not the land tremble for this, and all who live in it mourn? The whole land will rise like the Nile; it will be stirred up and then sink like the river of Egypt.

9 "In that day," declares the Sovereign LORD, "I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. 10 I will turn your religious feasts into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day. (Robert isn’t going to read this part, so I put it in to test him… Kudos if he finds it.)

11 "The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD, "when I will send a famine through the land— not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. 12 Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.

13 "In that day "the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst. 14 They who swear by the shame of Samaria, or say, 'As surely as your god lives, O Dan,' or, 'As surely as the god of Beersheba lives'—they will fall, never to rise again."

Helpmate (noun):

1. A helper and companion, especially a spouse.


2. A helpful partner.

Companion (noun):

1. A person who accompanies or associates with another; a comrade.


2. A person employed to assist, live with, or travel with another.


3. One of a pair or set of things; a mate.


4. A person who is frequently in the company of another.


5. A traveler who accompanies you.

These people didn’t want to be with God. They longed for when church would be over. They were counting the seconds till they could leave, as if stuff away from God was more important than worshiping him. I remember having that attitude growing up. I called it the “get to the car dash.” As soon as we were dismissed, the family would see who could get to the car first, missing the fellowship. We looked forward to when we could leave the church. And the kicker for me is God’s response. “I will never forget…” What makes me think even deeper is this, I can say, well, in the Old Testament, repentance wasn’t done. It wasn’t a concept of the Old Testament. But that would be wrong, because it was a concept of the Old Testament. It was used 22 times in the Old Testament, according to the NIV, used as early as 1st Kings. The act of sacrifices was a form of repentance. So then, these people did something that even if they repented, God would still remember. But, I think this: Jesus is my helpmate. My wife is my helpmate. I am her helpmate. And, by definition, everyone is also my helpmate, as I am a helpmate to them. We are all companions on this road of life, but I do have higher standards to my wife, commanded by the bible. Those I am in frequent company with, am I helping them? I don’t know, honestly. I think I need to seek this out more, exhaust myself to the point that I can fall asleep in the midst of a horrible storm (like Jesus did before the disciples woke him up to calm it). Anyway, that is my thoughts for the day. Enjoy the parable of the nuts.

The Parable of the Nuts:

Two boy scouts went on a nature hike in the hills picking hickory nuts. Along the way, they filled their small pails and then started to fill their pockets and shirts. When they could hold no more nuts, they started down the country road until they came across a cemetery. The boys decided that would be a good place to stop and rest and divide out the nuts. The two boys sat in the shade of a large oak tree and unloaded their pockets and buckets by dumping all of the nuts in a large pile. In the process, two of them rolled away and rested near the road. The boys then proceeded to divide out the nuts. "One for you. One for me. One for you. One for me."

As they were doing this, another boy was passing by and happened to hear them. He looked into the cemetery, but could not see the boys, because they were obscured by the tree. He hesitated a moment and then ran back to town.

"Father! Father!" he yelled as he entered his house. "The cemetery. Come quick!"

"What's the matter?" his father asked.

"No time to explain," the boy frantically panted. "Follow me!"

The boy and his father ran up the country road and stopped when they reached the cemetery. They stopped at the side of the road and all fell silent for a few moments. Then the father asked his son what was wrong. "Do you hear that?" he whispered. Both people listened intently and heard the Scouts. "One for me. One for you. One for me. One for you..." The boy then blurted out, "The devil and the Lord are dividing the souls!" The father was skeptical but silent -- until a few moments later as the Scouts completed dividing out the nuts and one Scout said to the other, "Now, as soon as we get those two nuts down by the road, we'll have them all."