November 7th - Reflection

Amos 8:7-14 (NRSV)
A famine of hearing God's word

The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob:
Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
Shall not the land tremble on this account,
and everyone mourn who lives in it,
and all of it rise like the Nile,
and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?

On that day, says the Lord God,
I will make the sun go down at noon,
and darken the earth in broad daylight.

I will turn your feasts into mourning,
and all your songs into lamentation;
I will bring sackcloth on all loins,
and baldness on every head;
I will make it like the mourning for an only son,
and the end of it like a bitter day.

The time is surely coming, says the Lord God,
when I will send a famine on the land;
not a famine of bread, or 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, seeking the word of the Lord,
but they shall not find it.
In that day the beautiful young women and the young men
shall faint for thirst.
Those who swear by Ashimah of Samaria,
and say, "As your god lives, O Dan,"
and, "As the way of Beer sheba lives" --
they shall fall, and never rise again.

Reflection
Sometimes we have it so nice that we think we don't need anything else. Sometimes we make the mistake that we don't need God. After all, we earned all that we have and we can make it on our own. So we stray away. But something comes along and brings us back. It could be almost anything. Something comes along that we find out we can't solve on our own. Our pride is burst and we fall to despair. Past rescues from God come back to visit and in our selfishness we learn the lesson of the Israelites. We can't do this on our own. We can't live on without God. So we run to God to find God was always there, waiting in love, waiting with open arms of welcome. Thanks be to God!

Prayer
Lord, may I always stay by your side. May I learn the lessons you teach and understand your love a little better each day that I may go out and love those you give to me each day. --- Amen