73.3 Social Evils

(Micah 2:1-10)

How terrible it will be for those who lie awake and plan evil! When morning comes, as soon as they have the chance, they do the evil they planned. When they want fields, they seize them; when they want houses, they take them. No man's family or property is safe.

And so the Lord says,"Iam planning to bring disaster on you, and you will not be able to escape it. You are going to find yourselves in trouble, and then you will not walk so proudly any more. When that time comes, people will use the story about you as an example of disaster, and they will sing this song of despair about your experience:
     We are completely ruined!
     The Lord has taken our land away
     And given it to those who took us captive."

So then, when the time comes for the land to be given back to the Lord's people, there will be no share for any of you.

The people preach at me and say, "Don't preach at us. Don't preach about all that. God is not going to disgrace us. Do you think the people of Israel are under a curse? Has the Lord lost his patience? Would he really do such things? Doesn't he speak kindly to those who do right?"

The Lord replies, "You attack my people like enemies. Men return from battle, thinking they are safe at home, but there you are, waiting to steal the coats off their backs. You drive the women of my people out of the homes they love, and you have robbed their children of my blessings forever. Get up and go; there is no safety any more. Your sins have doomed this place to destruction."

73.2 The Greedy Will Be Hungry. (Hungry For Food And For The Word Of God)

(Amos 8:4-12)

Listen to this, you that  trample on the needy and try to destroy the poor of the country. You say to yourselves, "We can hardly wait for the holy days to be over so that we can sell our grain. When will the Sabbath end, so that we can start selling again? Then we can overcharge, use false measures, and fix the scales to cheat our customers. We can sell worthless wheat at a high price. We'll find a poor man who can't pay his debts, not even the price of a pair of sandals, and we'll buy him a slave."

The Lord, the God of Israel, has sworn,"I will never forget their evil deeds. And so the earth will quake, and everyone in the land will be in distress. The whole country will be shaken; it will rise and fall like the Nile River. The time is coming when I will make the sun go down at noon and the earth grow dark in daytime. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. I will turn your festivals into funerals and change your glad songs into cries of grief. I will make you shave your heads and wear sackcloth, and you will be like parents mourning for their only son. That day will be bitter to the end.

"The time is coming when I will send famine on the land. People will be hungry, but not for bread; they will be thirsty, but not for water. They will hunger and thirst for a message from the Lord. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken. People will wander from the Dead Sea to the Mediterranean and then on around from the north to the east. They will look everywhere for a message from the Lord., but they will not find it.

73.1 Justice Is Condition For Happiness

(Jeremiah 22:13-16)

Doomed is the man who builds his house by injustice
and enlarges it by dishonesty;
who makes his countrymen work for nothing
and does not pay their wages.
Doomed is the man who says,
"I will build myself a mansion
with spacious rooms upstairs."
So he puts windows in his house,
panels it with cedar,and paints it red.
Does it make you a better king
if you build houses of cedar,
finer than those of others?
Your father enjoyed a full life.
He was always just and fair,
and he prospered in everything he did.
He gave the poor a fair trial,
and all went well with him.
That is what it means to know the Lord.

72.4 God Cares About The Lowly

(Psalm 138)

I thank you,Lord, with all my heart;
I sing praise to you before the gods.
I face your holy Temple,
bow down, and praise your name
because of your constant love and faitfullness,
because you have shown that your name
and your commands are supreme.
You answered me when I called to you;
with your strength you strengthened me.

All the kings in the world will praise you, Lord,
because they have heard your promises.
They will sing about what you have done
and about your great glory.
Even though you are so high above, you care for the lowly,
and the proud cannot hide from you.

When I am surrounded by troubles,
you keep me safe.
You oppose my angry enemies
and save me by your power.
You will do everything you have promised;
Lord, your love is eternal.
Complete the work that you have begun.

72.3 Set Aside A Part For The Poor

(Acts 11:27-30)

About that time some prophets went from Jerusalem to Antioch. One of them, named Agabus, stood up and by the power of the Holy Spirit predicted that a severe famine was about to come over all the earth. (It came when Cladius was emperor.) The disciples decided that each of them would send as much as he could to help their fellow believers who lived in Judea. They did this, then, and sent the money to the church elders by Barnabas and Saul.