Greetings to you all greatly beloved of God and welcome to another episode of our daily study of the Scriptures. We bless the name of the Lord God for the gift of life and for His benefits on us each new day. Praise be to God!
Happy Sunday to you all.
In our today’s episode 606, we shall be examining the book of Amos Chapter 6 titled:
At Ease In Zion; What Does This Mean? Check It Out
In verse 1 of our chapter under study, we can see how prophet Amos chastises his people for engaging themselves in extravagant ease. They did not stop there, they went further by establishing unholy relationships with some supposedly powerful idolatrous cities and nations, for example, Calneh, Hamath, and Philistine.
What does it mean to be at ease?
First let’s look at the Hebrew’s transliteration for ease.
It’s used in positive and negative ways:
Positive usages
Hebrew transliteration: shâ’an pronounced as /shaw-an/
Used as “quiet” Isaiah 32:18 where Isaiah says: And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in QUIET resting places.
Another positive usage can be found in Isaiah 33:20.
This is the kind of rest promised and given in Christ Jesus. Matt 11:29
Negative usages
Hebrew’s transliteration: sha’ǎnân pronounced as /shah-an-awn/
It means to be at ease in terms of being careless, which also comes with pride.
Amos 6:1 Job 12:5; Psa 123:4; Isaiah 32:9; Isaiah 32:11; Zechariah 1:15
It can also mean tumult as used in 2Kings 19:28 and Isaiah 37:29
What happened in Amos 6:1 was that they were in a relaxed mode in Zion, having confidence in the mountain of Samaria, the fortification of the walls of Jerusalem and believing that they could not be attacked and even if enemies should come, there were powerful neighbours that were ready to help them.
Based on this understanding, they did not see the need to listen to Prophet Amos and neither were they ready to forsake their sinful ways and return to God.
It’s obvious they showed no concern about the judgement threats released by Amos. There was no concern about their own Salvation and spiritual walk with God. They depended on man.
Prophet Amos was shocked to see how the people of Israel were gravitating towards the cities of Calneh, Hamath, and Gath (Philistine) to the point that they joined them in worshipping the small gods they worshipped.
This was the reason Amos asked them were those lands better than their lands? Read verse 2.
Verses 3-6 is about enumerating some of their sins to which he sentenced them to captivity in verse 7-8.
He also added pestilence and famine to their punishment in verses 9-12
The famine was so terrible that their land became hardened and was difficult to till for farming purposes.
And finally, they were punished by the sword of the Assyrians in verse 14.
We all know that all these punishments were avoidable had they listened to the Prophet of God and amended their ways.
Now, let’s look at some ways by which many New Covenant believers have become careless and are at ease today:
1. Cold prayer life or no prayers at all.
2. No longer studying the Word of God or practising what is written therein.
3. Delighting in carnality and all works of the flesh.
4. Not having interest in the things of God generally.
There are several other ways by which people can be at ease. Do you know them? Please, share them with us in the comment section.
To be continued…stay tuned and stay blessed.
Let’s pray:
Receive fresh fire of the Holy Spirit to empower you, strengthen you and position you in a spiritual level where the devil and His cohorts will always be afraid of you. Upon hearing your name, they will always tremble and flee, in Jesus name.
Every attempt of the devil and his cohorts to weaken you spiritually is hereby foiled. You are victorious always, in Jesus name.
Any habit in your life that can open the door of attack from the devil against you and your family, is hereby broken and you are totally free, in Jesus name.
Bible Readings For Today: Reflection time on all the chapters you have read from the past six days and covering of missed chapters.
I call you blessed now and always.
Sunday November 29, 2020 (DDMI)
