Grains of Sand

Google Images It’s amazing how many things we experiment with in our quest to find satisfaction in life. Since I woke up this morning the words of this worship song have been running through my head: KNOWING YOU All I once held dear built my life upon All this world reveres, and wars to own All I once thought gain I have counted loss Spent and worthless now, compared to this (Chorus) Knowing you, Jesus knowing you There is no greater thing You’re my all, you’re the best You’re my joy, my righteousness And I love you, Lord Now my heart’s desire is to know you more To be found in you, and known as yours To possess by faith what I could not earn All surpassing gift of righteousness Oh to know the power of your risen life And to know you in your suffering To become like you in your death, my Lord So with You to live And never die. (Graham Kendrick) By the time Jesus ended His discussion with the crowds that had followed Him, recorded for us in John 6, many people decided that knowing...

“ The days are coming,” declared the Sovereign Lord, when I will send a famine through the land– not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it. In that day the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst. They who swear by the shame of Samaria, or say ‘As surely as your god lives, O Dan,’ or, ‘As surely as the god of Beersheba lives’– they will fall, never to rise again .” –Amos 8:11-14, NIV. Some people recognize the signs. The famine has come upon us. The land lies dry, whirligigs of dust swirling around. We waited too long to make our course correction, to pull out the weeds of human philosophy and worldly wisdom and to put our roots down into His riverbed where we could draw from the water of life. The weeds have choked the grain. And the God who let us choose between His Word and...

As summer wends its way toward fall, we anticipate the fruits of a harvest kissed by rain, and warmed by the sun. We watch our gardens for ripening fruit and vegetables, tasting the joy almost before it becomes reality. Ripe is good—or so I thought until this morning's devotional. Amos is having a vision. God shows him a basket of ripe fruit. But there is nothing sweet here. The Lord says: " The time is ripe for my people, Israel; I will spare them no longer " —Amos 8:2, NIV. He then goes on to describe the depths to which He will drive his people because of their persistent rebellion. It's not the kind of harvest anyone eagerly waits for. But there is worse to come. "' The days are coming,' declares the Sovereign Lord, 'when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of ...