To Amos, Amaziah said:
"Off with you, visionary, flee to the land of Judah!
There earn your bread by prophesying,
but never again prophesy in Bethel;
for it is the king's sanctuary and a royal temple."
Are we unwilling to hear the word of the LORD? Sometimes the LORD says things about the future that are hard to endure. He tells us about difficult things. He warns of challenges that are coming. Why would he tell us this if not so we could prepare, repent, and be ready for the future when it arrives?
We need to listen and keep listening. We need to cut through the opinion of the crowd and get to what Jesus himself wants to tell us. Jesus wants to confront our sin and heal us. The crowd tells us there is no hope for us. We ourselves don't even fully realize our problem. We're more concerned about the physical paralysis than the sin.
It is a fearful thing that this one whom we know has the power to forgive sins. It means he stands over and above the law which accuses and condemns all others besides himself. Our pretenses about being good apart from his strength melt away in his presence. No one is good except God alone. The very fact that he forgives others makes us realize that we are worthy of judgment. This is hard to hear. But we need to keep listening through the hard things to the hope.
"Courage, child, your sins are forgiven."
Then, even the unchangeable circumstances of life are revealed to be changable when Jesus is involved.
"Rise, pick up your stretcher, and go home."
He rose and went home.
When the crowds saw this they were struck with awe
and glorified God who had given such authority to men.
If we get too fixated on the hard thing, on the words of the prophet about the condition of the world, about our physical or spiritual condition, we won't keep listening until we hear the words of hope. The words of hope are just about to be spoken. Let us continue to listen!
The decree of the LORD is trustworthy,
giving wisdom to the simple.
His joy comes with the morning..
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