The Basic, the Fundamentals

Amos 2:9-16

I’ve come to this understanding, it is not the deeper things of God that I should be searching for, no, it is the basic, the fundamentals, like where does success come from?  And often I’ve proclaimed that timing is everything, or having the ability to solve the problem, and even having been taught by my parents that hard work will bring blessing, and being lazy brings poverty. 

What if a person, or a business, or even a nation began to ignore that Creator God is in charge of all, not some, but all blessings.  That our abilities, our skill sets, our being at the right place at the right time are orchestrated by the unseen God, and that He takes no pleasure in a person or a business, or even a nation who is so arrogant.

I am fearful that you and I have been tuned into Channel One, the deceptive channel for so long and have heard the misinformation message of look at me, look at what I can accomplish, that at some point we bought into the message of the one who has come to kill, steal, and destroy.  “Thus says the Lord:” “Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars and who was as strong as the oaks; I destroyed his fruit above and his roots beneath.  Also it was I who brought you up out of the land of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.  And I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites.  Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel?” declares the LORD.”

As I look to the future, I choose to ask forgiveness before Creator God, and acknowledge my need to become as a child, and look to the understanding that is in “Thus says the Lord” when Jesus said these words: “I am the vine; you are the branches.  The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.” (John 15:5) 

Could we the church, have fallen into the same foolishness, as the chosen of God, that Amos is talking to?  If so, should we keep going deeper into the knowledge of God, when we are not applying the basics in our personal life; love your neighbor as yourself, and if we are not doing that, how can we hope to love our enemy?

Is it not once again the time to repent and turn back to what Moses instructed the people who God called from Egypt” The eleventh chapter of Deuteronomy, verse one is a reminder; “Therefore, love the Lord your God and always keep His mandate and His statutes, ordinances, and commands.”  “Thus says the Lord;” “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you today, and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known. (Deuteronomy 11:26-28 ESV)

So this is the understanding I’ve come to; it’s easy to buy into that we are smart, more talented that others, and that in some way we have accomplished everything by our own skill set, brain power, physical abilities, and all of this comes from Channel One the deceptive channel.  But Channel Two reminds us that God alone is our source!

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice