MAN VERSUS GOD

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed. You treat the righteous like dirt.”

“It is the Lord who created the stars, the Pleiades and Orion. He turns darkness into morning and day into night. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The Lord is His name! With blinding speed and power, He destroys the strong, crushing all their defenses.”

“How you hate honest judges! How you despise people who tell the truth! You trample the poor, stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent.”

“Therefore, though you build beautiful stone houses, you will never live in them. Though you plant lush vineyards, you will never drink wine from them. For I know the vast number of your sins and the depth of your rebellions. You oppress good people by taking bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.”

“So those who are smart keep their mouths shut, for it is an evil time.”

Amos 5:7-13 (NLT)

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The Israelites made a very foolish decision, one based on what could only be called extremely poor judgment.

What was that decision?

They chose to oppose God.

That’s right. Man (represented by the Israelites) decided to go toe-to-toe with the God of infinite power and might, the God who was their Master and Maker, the God who had (and has) no rival.

Did I mention they made a very foolish decision?

So how did the oppose God?

We see some of the ways as we look at today’s scripture passage drawn from our continued study of the fifth chapter of Amos. Look again at these words and see if you can pick up the Israelite actions that put them in contention with the Lord.

“You twist justice, making it a bitter pill for the oppressed. You treat the righteous like dirt.”

“It is the Lord who created the stars, the Pleiades and Orion. He turns darkness into morning and day into night. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The Lord is His name! With blinding speed and power, He destroys the strong, crushing all their defenses.”

“How you hate honest judges! How you despise people who tell the truth! You trample the poor, stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent.”

“Therefore, though you build beautiful stone houses, you will never live in them. Though you plant lush vineyards, you will never drink wine from them. For I know the vast number of your sins and the depth of your rebellions. You oppress good people by taking bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.”

“So those who are smart keep their mouths shut, for it is an evil time.”  Amos 5:7-13 (NLT)

God commanded that everyone be treated with justice and equity. The Israelites discriminated against the oppressed, trampling the poor and stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent. They oppressed god people by taking bribes and deprived the poor of justice in the courts.

God expected that those who did right would be esteemed in society but the scriptures tell us that the righteous were mistreated, even the judges who were honest. Wrong had become the new right in the minds of God’s people and that attitude will get anyone in trouble with Him.

It was indeed an evil time so much so that any person who was wise would simply keep their mouth shut and say nothing for if they would speak out, they would be abused by those who did not want to hear about the transgressions they were committing.

Too bad, that approach by the people of God was all for naught. It was useless to try and suppress their iniquities because the Lord was fully aware of the “vast number” of the Israelite sins and the depth of their rebellion against Him.

Yes, the people of God had decided to line up against Him and they would soon see that this was a bad idea.

You see, man versus God was, is, and will always be the ultimate no contest, the definitive mismatch of all mismatches. This is because everyone and everything is an underdog with no hope for victory when they decide to square off against the Lord who has done and continues to do the following:

1. Created the stars.

God created Pleiades and Orion as well as all the stars in the sky, stars too numerous to count.

Can man do that?

2. Turns darkness into morning and day into night.

God has ushered in each day with a sunrise and pulled the curtains down on that same day with a sunset leading into darkness every day since He first brought about the first day and night.

Can man do that?

3. Draws water up from the oceans and pours it down on the land as rain.

For the ages, God has watered His creation to allow all things to sustain life and thrive, siphoning moisture up from the seas of the world in order to bring rain down on the land.

Can any man do that?

4. Destroys the strong, crushing their defenses.

Ask yourself if there has been any man-made empire in the world that has ever survived after opposing God and you will quickly assess that none have ever been successful. One hundred percent of the time, the Lord has brought those empires tumbling down, easily defeating their defenses in order to bring destruction.

Can any man do this with the regularity that God has?

Friends, in the ends translation, no one can stand against God. No one. For He and He alone is the Lord and everything is subservient to Him. No man should ever try to stand as His equal. Rather, every man should bow down before Him and seek to be fully obedient to His bidding.

The Israelites of Amos’ day didn’t get that and so they would never get to live in the beautiful stone houses they constructed or drink wine from the lush vineyards they had planted. They would not get to experience any blessing from God, only judgment.

I wonder sometimes if we’re heading down that same path, making the same mistake of opposing God instead of submitting to Him. If we do, then we’re just as foolish as the people of God in Old Testament times and we deserve punishment as they did.

Let’s make it easy on ourselves and give God all the honor, glory, and praise.

Let’s realize our relationship with Him as being Master to servant, understanding that we are to serve Him and follow His word, will, and way, never the other way around.

Let’s save ourselves a lot of trouble and never set the stage where it might appear that it’s us versus God because that’s a conflict we’ll never win.

Just ask any other group of people who have come before us and tried it.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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