20240219

darkness rather than light

Amos 5:18-27 (JDV)

Amos 5:18 Woe to you who want the day of Yahveh! What will the day of Yahveh be for you? It will be darkness and not light.
Amos 5:19 It will be like a man who escapes from a lion only to have a bear confront him. He goes home and rests his hand against the wall only to have a snake bite him.
Amos 5:20 Won’t the day of Yahveh be darkness rather than light, and gloomy without any brightness in it?
Amos 5:21 I hate, I despise, your feasts! I can’t stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.
Amos 5:22 Even if you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; I will have no regard for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle.
Amos 5:23 Take away from me the uproar of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.
Amos 5:24 But let justice flow like water, and fairness, like an unfailing stream.
Amos 5:25 “House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to me during the forty years in the open country?
Amos 5:26 But you have taken up Sakkuth your king and Kaiwan your star god, images you have made for yourselves.
Amos 5:27 So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus.” Yahveh, the God of Armies, is his name. He has spoken.

darkness rather than light

The inhabitants of Israel were on their way to destruction, singing and celebrating all the way. The LORD told them through Amos that he hated their feasts and “worship.” It did not matter how religious they were, or how openly spiritual. They kept saying that they were looking forward to the day of Yahveh, but God told them that his day would bring darkness, not light.

Forgive us, LORD, for being openly spiritual, yet inwardly selfish. Transform us by your word through the power of your Holy Spirit. You sent your Son to die for our sins. teach us how to die to them.