S. O. A. P.
Here’s Your 90 second AM Devotional!
S-cripture:
Amos 2:14
The swift will not escape, the strong will not muster their strength, and the warrior will not save his life.
O-bservation:
Amos was a shepherd/farmer who lived a little over 10 miles from Jerusalem, yet he spoke as an oracle of God. He lived and prophesied forty years after Elisha had passed, and during a time when Judah and Israel were both extremely prosperous. Yet their prosperity had brought them to a place of idolatry and spiritual smugness. Here Amos prophesies that there is coming a day when all of their abilities will fail them. It’s “A Word For The Swift, Strong Warrior.”
A-pplication:
Whenever we endeavor to make things happen on our own by the power of our own might, disaster is on the way. I can remember a time in my life when I could beat just about anybody in a foot race. As a wrestler I could get out of any hold and pin my opponent. I never fought in battle, but I felt I could if needed. In other words, there was a time when I thought I was the answer to my own challenges. How wrong I was. With age and injury comes a complete dependence upon God, friends, and family. But what about the individual who never learns that lesson. That’s what had happened to Israel as a nation. Israel believed it was its own answer to life. Israel had turned Bethel, the place of worship, into a garden of the “foreign gods,” and it was from Bethel that Amos came with “A Word For The Swift, Strong Warrior.” It still holds true today.
P-rayer:
Dear Jesus,
I am aware this AM that in me there is a tendency on self-dependency if I’m not careful. Please let me see how weak and in need of You I am every second of this day. Amen