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Daily Devotions

Amos

Amos 
Day 
Day 54

"Seek the LORD and live"

Text: Amos 5:6

EVERY ENCOURAGEMENT GIVEN

Amos did his utmost to give encouragement to Israel to repent and to seek the Lord. He held out the possibility that the Lord may yet enable Israel to live!

“Seek the LORD and live,
Lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph,
And devour it,
With no one to quench it in Bethel-
You who turn justice into wormwood,
And lay righteousness to rest in the earth!”
Amos 5:6-7

1. “Seek the LORD and live”

a) This was a repeat of the previous invitation.
b) Life was held out as a possibility yet!
c) If only Israel would whole-heartedly turn to the LORD their God and not to places of idolatrous worship.

2. “Lest He break out like fire”

a) References to the fire of judgment had already been made (Amos 1:4, 7, 10, 12 etc).
b) If Israel would not seek the LORD, then it must expect “fire”.
c) God would have to fulfil what He had sent as a prophetic word of judgment through the prophet Amos.

3. “In the house of Joseph”

a) Joseph was particularly blessed by the Lord.
b) His was an illustrious house.
c) But the past glory would not prevent it from being judged and burned in the current sinful circumstances.

4. “And devour it”

a) This fire would be an inferno.
b) This fire will devour Israel.

5. “With no one to quench it in Bethel”

a) The false priests and prophets would be powerless to stop the raging fire.
b) Such would be the fire of judgment that would come from the Lord.

6. Justice and righteousness

The rulers of Israel had made justice bitter like wormwood. Righteousness had been destroyed and laid to rest in the earth. This was the true state of Israel. It was a far cry from the days of the house of Israel! Israel must turn from its sinful ways or prepare to meet God. The erstwhile glorious nation would perish!