Free at last!

Yes, after a 30-day ban on Facebook, this exile has been allowed to come in from the cold! During such a lengthy spell, I missed being able to send greetings to many who celebrated their birthday anniversaries; I missed being able to congratulate a few friends on wedding anniversaries; I was unable to immediately congratulate on the occasions of a couple of births; and I was unable to send condolences in the cases of a couple of deaths. To all concerned, please accept my apology, and my belated greetings/condolences. 

So, what can I say on this first post in a full month? Well, I could comment on the Old (or First) Testament book of the prophet Amos. It's a book that has provided us with a number of well-known, and memorable, phrases: "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?" (3:3). (Facebook certainly doesn't seem to think so!). "Prepare to meet your God." (4:12). (And He is 'your God' whether, or not, you acknowledge Him!). "Let justice run down like water." (5:24). (But there is no apparent sense of justice within the fiefdom of Facebook!).

However, the phrase in the prophecy of Amos that is most often repeated, occurs five times in just one chapter - chapter 4. Time after time, YHWH speaks of all that He has done to discipline His wayward, self-indulgent, people and draw them back to Himself. In every case, He states, the result is the same: "You have not returned to Me." (4: 6, 8-11).

We may read of, and marvel at, the hardness of heart of those contemporary Children of Israel - but surely we must ask if we are any different! If we have sensed that the Lord has been trying to 'get our attention', how have we responded to Him?

Amos, in his prophetic book, shares warnings of judgement; of captivity; of destruction. However, there are also calls for repentance, and promises of restoration. "Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; so YHWH Elohim Sabaoth will be with you." (5:14). The book has many memorable phrases - but we should never forget the invitation of Father God to all who have wandered away from Him: "Return to Me". 

Facebook sends those with whose perspectives it disagrees, into "exile". Jesus, the Christ, issues the invitation: "Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden , and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light." (Matt 11:28-30). 

Turn, or return. Just ensure that you are in the right relationship with Almighty God, through faith in the Lord Jesus, and be filled with new life in God the Holy Spirit. You will never regret it if you do!

Too little, and too late.

One of the useful pieces of information that is provided by Blogger is a note of the number of 'visits' to individual posts on a blog. It makes for interesting reading. I am saddened to discover that numbers viewing the series on Books of the Bible are the lowest that I can recall in nearly 1500 posts.

Accordingly, I shall stop, and perhaps just bring a book (or books) in occasionally. However, this doesn't affect my personal Bible reading! At the moment, in my personal devotions, I am reading the Letters of Peter. Yesterday, and this morning, I was reading in what we know as chapter 3, verses 1-7 - a passage that deals with the relationship between a husband and a wife. To help me, I consult a number of commentaries and, in his commentary, Warren Wiersbe shared this information: "One survey revealed that the average husband and wife (I suspect that this was in the USA, but also that the figure would not be vastly different in any of our "civilised" countries!) had thirty-seven minutes a week together in actual communication!" He continues: "Is it any wonder that marriages fall apart after the children grow up and leave home? The husband and wife are left alone - to live with a stranger!" 

Regretfully, the so-called "busy-ness" of life doesn't only affect husbands and wives, but also parents and children. As I read those words of Pastor Wiersbe, I was reminded of another story that I read recently. It concerned a young boy who was failing in one of his school subjects and had to remain, after school, to complete his work (this obviously wasn't in the very recent past!!). Feeling very discouraged, and dreading to tell his parents why he was late, he walked so far into a nearby wooded area that he lost his way. When he did not return home, his parents organised a search. Sadly, it was not until the following morning that his body was found - frozen in the snow. 

Filled with remorse, the heartbroken father admitted that whenever his son had been in trouble, or had come to him for help, he had usually been too busy. All that he could now say was: "If I had spent more time with him, this would not have happened."

The psalmist-king, David, experienced even more regret when he learned of the death of his son, Absalom (II Samuel 18:33). Ignoring Amnon's evil deed with his half-sister, Tamar (Absalom's sister - this is all shared in the video in the previous post!!), the king wasn't close enough to his own family to detect that Absalom was planning to get revenge (II Sam.13). After Absalom had his half-brother murdered (v.28), he lived in a self-imposed exile for three years. When he returned, his father refused to allow his son the privilege of coming into his presence. Finally, when Absalom rebelled, and was killed by one of David's generals, Joab (in spite of David's command that Absalom was not to be harmed! - II Sam.18:5), the sad results of his neglect finally dawned upon the king.

We live at a time when the home, and the family, are being threatened on every side. Those of us who are parents - and even grandparents - must meet the emotional and spiritual needs of our children by giving them our personal love and guidance. I think of one situation, known to me, in which a young person is suffering simply because, in my opinion, there has been a lack of parental responsibility. It is only by taking a genuine interest in the lives of our children that we will avoid the tragedy of giving too little, too late!

Sadly (and we see this particularly at Christmas, and when a birthday is being celebrated) too many parents are willing to give their children everything - except themselves!