Day 200 Bible Readings for July 20 – Amos 8: 11-12 (ESV)

Amos 8-9, Romans 5: 12-21, Psalm 107: 10-22

Amos 8: 11-12 (ESV)

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.”

Verses 11 through 12 from Amos 8 is the prophet Amos telling us that not hearing the words of the lord is worse than not having enough to eat and drink. And even when we seek the word of the Lord, we will not find it. I was moved when I read these verses from Amos 8 because I had an experience with losing thousands of dollars worth of lectures I bought and paid for when I recently transferred them to a new computer drive. I was devastated by the loss because of the money I had spent, but I also realized that this was a lesson from God. I had been so worried about losing these physical things that I had collected, and when I did lose them, I realized that it wasn’t the worse thing that could have happened to me. I had lost money for sure, but I knew I could with time rebuy these lectures again. God taught me that losing physical things is nothing compared to losing my faith in God.

Day 199 Bible Readings – Romans 5: 1 (ESV)

Amos 6 & 7, Romans 4: 16-25, Romans 5: 1-11, Psalm 107: 1-9

Romans 5: 1 (ESV)

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Verse 1 from Romans 5 gives us Paul’s first benefit of the argument he has been making to the church in Rome that he wanted to visit. Paul’s argument is that the only way of salvation is to be justified by grace through faith. We are justified by grace through faith because Christ died for our sins. We have peace with God because Jesus paid for our sins in full by his death on the cross. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, we will no longer battle with God because of our sinful nature. But this peace with God doesn’t mean peace with everything else in our life.  We will still have troubles with the world, with our desires, or with our sinful nature. Life will unfortunately always be a battle, but our battle with God is over and we die we will live forever with Christ.

Paul of Tarsus was a complex thinker

When I read Romans in the Bible, I am reminded what a complex thinker Paul of Tarsus who preached the gospel of Christ to the Gentiles was a complex thinker. His arguments about Christ and who he is are complex. It makes me wonder if the people Paul was writing were more intelligent than we are today, or if the translations of his letter make his arguments more complicated. 

Seriously, I feel really uneducated reading Romans. I have to read passages over and over again. I have a friend who reads and write Greek fluently, even though he is French. My friend is the most studied and intelligent men I have ever met. Paul wrote in Greek, and I wonder if my friend has read the original letters of Paul in the Greek language. It wouldn't surprise if he did because my friend is just that nerdy. I mean, who reads and writes in fluent Greek if you aren't Greek? I'm going to have to ask him.

When I went to college, my professors drilled into our heads to always try to read the original source material in the original language if you can because translators bring their bias to any translation. I would love the read Paul's letters in the original Greek, which would be a lifetime task. I also still want to learn to read Latin, another lifetime task. 

Many bible commentaries recommend reading a passage you want to study in the many versions of the Bible, so you can compare the different translations and get a better understanding of the verses you wan to understand. This recommendation may be the way I go, and reading Bible commentaries of course. 

People are right. You have to study the Bible yearly to really understand it for yourself. 

Day 198 Bible Readings for July 18 – Amos 5: 21-24 (ESV)

Amos 5, Romans 6: 1-15, Psalm 106: 40-48

Amos 5: 21-24 (ESV)

“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen. But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”

Verses 21 through 24 from Amos 5 show God speaking through Amos about how he did not like people giving me offering and feast and songs because of the injustice that was being done. Amos was a prophet during the time of King Jeroboam I in Israel. God sent Amos to deliver a message to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel to stop abusing its own people and worshipping new idols. Many bible commentaries have noted that Amos was saying the same things Jesus said referred to in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said to be reconciled against those who have wronged you before you bring gifts to God.

I find these verses interesting because it does make wonder if this is truly God’s reaction to people in church who worship, but have not repented to God of their sins. It’s almost like Amos is saying God will let people worship God all they want thinking God has forgiven them all of their sins, but God will not accept their worship. God will still bring justice on people for the wrongs they have done if they do not repent. It is not enough to just worship God, we need to ask God for repentance of our sins. Even if we have faith in Christ, it’s not a free pass to sin all we want thinking that God will always forgive us. We must always make a sincere attempt to follow God’s law, and always ask God for forgiveness of our sins.