Day 200
Amos 8:1-9:15, Romans 5:12-21, Proverbs 17:15-24
The doom and gloom continues for Israel and even culminates with complete destruction. There is however a theme that has been seen in a couple of places, and it is a theme that some of the other prophets pick up as well.
What is Israel’s sin (or at least one of them)? To ignore justice. 8:4 talks about trampling on the needy and it builds up from there. It sometimes feels as though, wherever we look we see injustice. It might be the injustice of education or healthcare provision in Africa, the global inequality of wealth and resources or the injustice created by war. It could even be the simple injustice that we see where one person oppresses another on a day to day basis, either in the playground, the workplace or some foreign power.
One thing we can be sure of is that God is against this injustice, in a big way, and it gets in the way of his relationship with his people when they do not live out lives marked by justice.
It also became quite clear for me today how hard Paul can be to read at times. There is an incredible depth to the theology in his writing and yet sometime the Greek to English translation doesn’t come through too well. In all honesty, having read the Greek, that can be quite hard as well! Just look at what he is saying though, nestled within some quite hard part to read we see:
The doom and gloom continues for Israel and even culminates with complete destruction. There is however a theme that has been seen in a couple of places, and it is a theme that some of the other prophets pick up as well.
What is Israel’s sin (or at least one of them)? To ignore justice. 8:4 talks about trampling on the needy and it builds up from there. It sometimes feels as though, wherever we look we see injustice. It might be the injustice of education or healthcare provision in Africa, the global inequality of wealth and resources or the injustice created by war. It could even be the simple injustice that we see where one person oppresses another on a day to day basis, either in the playground, the workplace or some foreign power.
One thing we can be sure of is that God is against this injustice, in a big way, and it gets in the way of his relationship with his people when they do not live out lives marked by justice.
It also became quite clear for me today how hard Paul can be to read at times. There is an incredible depth to the theology in his writing and yet sometime the Greek to English translation doesn’t come through too well. In all honesty, having read the Greek, that can be quite hard as well! Just look at what he is saying though, nestled within some quite hard part to read we see:
“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!”It might be hard to fathom some of the stuff he is saying but here, the message that the grace brought about by the actions of one man (Christ) is more than enough to undo the death that might result from sinful action. Now that is an awesome message.
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