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daily devotional
Evening ...
1 Chronicles 9:33
And these are the singers . . . they were employed in that work day and night.
Well was it so ordered in the temple that the sacred chant never ceased: for
evermore did the singers praise the Lord, whose mercy endureth for ever. As
mercy did not cease to rule either by day or by night, so neither did music
hush its holy ministry. My heart, there is a lesson sweetly taught to thee in
the ceaseless song of Zion's temple, thou too art a constant debtor, and see
thou to it that thy gratitude, like charity, never faileth. God's praise is
constant in heaven, which is to be thy final dwelling-place, learn thou to
practise the eternal hallelujah. Around the earth as the sun scatters his
light, his beams awaken grateful believers to tune their morning hymn, so that
by the priesthood of the saints perpetual praise is kept up at all hours, they
swathe our globe in a mantle of thanksgiving, and girdle it with a golden belt
of song. The Lord always deserves to be praised for what He is in Himself, for
His works of creation and providence, for His goodness towards His creatures,
and especially for the transcendent act of redemption, and all the marvellous
blessing flowing therefrom. It is always beneficial to praise the Lord; it
cheers the day and brightens the night; it lightens toil and softens sorrow;
and over earthly gladness it sheds a sanctifying radiance which makes it less
liable to blind us with its glare. Have we not something to sing about at this
moment? Can we not weave a song out of our present joys, or our past
deliverances, or our future hopes? Earth yields her summer fruits: the hay is
housed, the golden grain invites the sickle, and the sun tarrying long to shine
upon a fruitful earth, shortens the interval of shade that we may lengthen the
hours of devout worship. By the love of Jesus, let us be stirred up to close
the day with a psalm of sanctified gladness.
Amos 5:14-15
(14) Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God
of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. (15) Hate the evil, and love
the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of
hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
How can this calamity be averted? The solution is so simple and obvious
that God seems to spend very little time on it within the book of Amos. In
reality, every word of the book screams what Israel needed to do then-and needs
to do today.
"Seek good and not evil, that you may live; so the Lord God of hosts will
be with you, as you have spoken. Hate evil, love good; establish justice in the
gate." A person does not need to seek God if He has already revealed Himself to
him. Thus, seek means "to turn" to Him in repentance, not necessarily "to look
for." This is a way of saying, "Set aside your time and life for God."
Seek in the Hebrew is imperative and has the force of a command. Seeking
good, or seeking God (verse 4), is an act that we have to set ourselves to do;
it is not a natural inclination ( Romans 8:7). But it is worth the effort, for
its product is life-not just physical existence, but life as God lives it (
John 17:3). If we determine to seek good, and continue in it, the result-truly
living!-will follow. Seeking the Lord produces godly life.
In living by every word of God, we should notice the order in which He
lists these commands: "Seek good and not evil. . . . Hate evil, love good." The
action of turning to good precedes the emotions of hating evil and loving good.
holiness involves action and emotion: seeking and shunning, loving good and
hating evil. He wants us to turn to the good and make it a target in our daily
life. If we wait for God to infuse us with the right kind of feeling before we
try to do good, then we will wait a long time because it will never come. We
have to take action first by faith and the corresponding right feeling will
follow.
If holiness does not involve both action and emotion, it becomes
something that we can put on and take off. We could hypocritically live one
kind of life during the week, and on the Sabbath put on our holy look and go to
services. Action and emotion combine to make a whole way of life.
Holiness is not just a way of life or a rule to live by. It also produces
the very best quality of life-the way God lives eternally. God's people have to
think constantly of holiness, appreciating that He has chosen us out of this
world and given us grace to be holy.
John W. Ritenbaugh
From Prepare to Meet Your God! (The Book of Amos) (Part Two)
