June 29 - Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

 Read today’s texts first: Amos 4-6; Psalms 86; Titus 1

MAXIMize YOUR DAY

Playing with sin is like playing “Snakes and Ladders”
with the ladders replaced with lions and bears!

Yesterday we looked at the very real threat of marauding lions looking to devour Israel, and us if we act like Israel. Today, the pessimism of the prophet Amos persists:  It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him (5:19).  Okay, bears really are mentioned, but there are no tigers in this prophecy, only venomous snakes.

So Amos is saying, if Israel continues to ignore their God, even if they should outrun the lion (which is highly unlikely), they are going to run right into a bear, and if they duck for cover inside their house, guess what, snakes know how to get into your house. In other words, there is no escape from God’s judgment. It is shocking to see how far Israel has fallen. Their two most sacred cities (remember, Jerusalem is in Judah, not Israel) are Bethel and Gilgal. Bethel is where Abraham and Jacob regularly met with God, and Gilgal is where Joshua renewed their vows to God when they first entered the Promised Land. Now they are the centres of idol worship.

Sin is progressive, or more accurately regressive. If left unchecked, the heart grows harder and the sin becomes more perverse.  Paul warns of that in his letter to Titus: To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted (1:15). Despite the pessimism of Amos, he does offer hope: Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph (4:14-15).

“Lord, I ask that you will bring quick intervention and conviction when I sin, so that repentance and mercy can follow. Lions are bad enough without bears and snakes right behind them!”