December 12
Amos 6-7 61 Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who are secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come! 2 Go to Calneh, and see; and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. are they better than these kingdoms? or is their border greater than your border? 3 Those who put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; 4 Who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves on their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the middle of the stall; 5 who strum on the strings of a harp; who invent for themselves instruments of music, like David; 6 who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. 7 Therefore they will now go captive with the first who go captive; and the feasting and lounging will end. 8 “The Lord Yahweh has sworn by himself,” says Yahweh, the God of Armies: “I abhor the pride of Jacob, and detest his fortresses. Therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it. 9 It will happen, if there remain ten men in one house, that they shall die. 10 “When a man’s relative carries him, even he who burns him, to bring bodies out of the house, and asks him who is in the innermost parts of the house, ‘Is there yet any with you?’ And he says, ‘No;’ then he will say, ‘Hush! Indeed we must not mention Yahweh’s name.’ 11 “For, behold, Yahweh commands, and the great house will be smashed to pieces, and the little house into bits. 12 Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness; 13 you who rejoice in a thing of nothing, who say, ‘Haven’t we taken for ourselves horns by our own strength?’ 14 For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, house of Israel,” says Yahweh, the God of Armies; “and they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah.” 71 Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me: and behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s harvest. 2 When they finished eating the grass of the land, then I said, “Lord Yahweh, forgive, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small.” 3 Yahweh relented concerning this. “It shall not be,” says Yahweh. 4 Thus the Lord Yahweh showed me and behold, the Lord Yahweh called for judgment by fire; and it dried up the great deep, and would have devoured the land. 5 Then I said, “Lord Yahweh, stop, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small.” 6 Yahweh relented concerning this. “This also shall not be,” says the Lord Yahweh. 7 Thus he showed me and behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand. 8 Yahweh said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I will set a plumb line in the middle of my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more. 9 The high places of Isaac will be desolate, the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.” 10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the middle of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words. 11 For Amos says, ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.’ ” 12 Amaziah also said to Amos, “You seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there: 13 but don’t prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a royal house!” 14 Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdsman, and a farmer of sycamore figs; 15 and Yahweh took me from following the flock, and Yahweh said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 Now therefore listen to Yahweh’s word: ‘You say, Don’t prophesy against Israel, and don’t preach against the house of Isaac.’ 17 Therefore Yahweh says: ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line; and you yourself shall die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.’ ”
Job 31:24-40
3124 “If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence;’ 25 If I have rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much; 26 if I have seen the sun when it shined, or the moon moving in splendor, 27 and my heart has been secretly enticed, and my hand threw a kiss from my mouth, 28 this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for I should have denied the God who is above. 29 “If I have rejoiced at the destruction of him who hated me, or lifted up myself when evil found him 30 (yes, I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse); 31 if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?’ 32 (the foreigner has not camped in the street, but I have opened my doors to the traveler); 33 if like Adam I have covered my transgressions, by hiding my iniquity in my heart, 34 because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and didn’t go out of the door— 35 oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Let the accuser write my indictment! 36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; and I would bind it to me as a crown. 37 I would declare to him the number of my steps. as a prince would I go near to him. 38 If my land cries out against me, and its furrows weep together; 39 if I have eaten its fruits without money, or have caused its owners to lose their life, 40 let briers grow instead of wheat, and stinkweed instead of barley.” The words of Job are ended.
John 17:6-19 176 I revealed your name to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours, and you have given them to me. They have kept your word. 7 Now they have known that all things whatever you have given me are from you, 8 for the words which you have given me I have given to them, and they received them, and knew for sure that I came from you. They have believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I don’t pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All things that are mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are. 12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. I have kept those whom you have given me. None of them is lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I come to you, and I say these things in the world, that they may have my joy made full in themselves. 14 I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. 15 I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world even as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in your truth. Your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, even so I have sent them into the world. 19 For their sakes I sanctify myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
Revelation 9:1-12
91 The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from the sky which had fallen to the earth. The key to the pit of the abyss was given to him. 2 He opened the pit of the abyss, and smoke went up out of the pit, like the smoke from a burning furnace. The sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke from the pit. 3 Then out of the smoke came locusts on the earth, and power was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power. 4 They were told that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those people who don’t have God’s seal on their foreheads. 5 They were given power, not to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a person. 6 In those days people will seek death, and will in no way find it. They will desire to die, and death will flee from them. 7 The shapes of the locusts were like horses prepared for war. On their heads were something like golden crowns, and their faces were like people’s faces. 8 They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like those of lions. 9 They had breastplates, like breastplates of iron. The sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots, or of many horses rushing to war. 10 They have tails like those of scorpions, and stings. In their tails they have power to harm men for five months. 11 They have over them as king the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is “Abaddon”, but in Greek, he has the name “Apollyon”. 12 The first woe is past. Behold, there are still two woes coming after this.
Proud vs. Broken
Proud
Proud people are wounded when others are promoted and they are overlooked.
Broken
Broken people are eager for others to get the credit; they rejoice when others are lifted up.
Meditate on this
James 1:22 NKJV
But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
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