Daily Devotional for Wednesday, June 17

Vision of the Fire

“Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord God called to contend by fire, and it devoured the great deep, and did eat up a part,” Amos 7:4.

We can sometimes overreact to situations in our lives. Parents can, at times, use discipline that may not be commensurate with the offense committed and deal out punishment that, by all accounts, is too heavy a price to pay. It may be that the punishment is more severe because of the escalating offenses by the child and the parent wants to put an end to this pattern of disobedience. While having all the right motives, a parent’s discipline can get to a point that they actually start to hurt the child in such a way that the child feels as if they will never be able to get beyond their sin and have a right relationship with their parents again.
There are so many ways God could punish the Israelites for their sins and also for turning from the Lord, but what they deserved would probably wipe them out completely. Thankfully, God shows mercy and does not always give us what we deserve. In seeing that they would be devoured by the fire, Amos interceded on Israel’s behalf and God turned from His course of discipline (Amos 7:4). The Lord is always looking to put an end to Israel’s disobedience and for the restoration of His people. There will come a time when the Lord will destroy this earth by fire, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Peter 3:10). Whatever action the Lord takes will always be exactly what is needed.

REFLECTION
“Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby” (Hebrews 12:11).

Tim Chambers