Daily Devotional for Saturday, June 20

Vision of God at the Altar

“Though they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down: and though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them,” Amos 9:2, 3.

On April 15, 2013, two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. Two brothers were identified as the perpetrators of this horrific act of destruction. As the search ensued in an attempt to find these two men, they were later spotted, confronted, and the elder brother was shot and killed. Thousands of police searched a twenty-block area, and the other brother was ultimately found after four days hiding in a boat. He was subsequently tried, found guilty and sentenced to death.
The Lord is teaching in this passage that He will bring destruction upon Israel. He tells us that, “Behold, the eyes of the Lord God are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the Lord” (Amos 9:8). Even though the people will try to hide from the Lord, He is able to find them wherever they try to hide (Amos 9:2-4). The Lord is always watching from His throne, “For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves” (Job 34:21, 22). When the Lord enacts justice on His people, they cannot escape.

JUST A THOUGHT
It is important to trust in the Lord and follow Him, “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17).

Tim Chambers