Ancient Wisdom
I wonder why I haven't seen more pieces like this.
It's worth reading in its entirety.
Maybe I am strange (OK, I know I'm a bit odd, but this is different), but when we first started getting articles on the latest economic crisis, one of the first things I thought of was to wonder what it might have been like for the ancient Israelites to be living through the time just prior to being taken into captivity in Babylon. King Solomon taught that there is nothing new under the sun, but we modern humans seem to think that everything that happens is a first in recorded history. Let's assume for a moment that the economic doomsayers are correct and we are headed into a dramatic worldwide recession (a point I am not generally willing to concede). How should the people of Christ react? What would God say to us in these times? I have to admit that I have never studied the book of Amos in depth, and cannot remember ever hearing a sermon preached out of it. I think that in general we miss a lot when we cut ourselves off from the wisdom of the past, and even more so when we ignore the very words of God preserved for us from time immemorial. No matter how dire our current situation appears, surely the Lord of Heaven has something of value for us. Perhaps it is time for us to delve deelpy into the ancient history of our faith and to wrestle with the unfamiliar passages that even the preachers tend to ignore. I know I will.
The perennial question at such times is, Where is God in the disaster, whether
our losses be small or large? Well, one of the oldest economic pamphlets still
in existence — the Book of Amos — has been arguing for 2,800 years that God is
in the middle of disaster.
It's worth reading in its entirety.
Maybe I am strange (OK, I know I'm a bit odd, but this is different), but when we first started getting articles on the latest economic crisis, one of the first things I thought of was to wonder what it might have been like for the ancient Israelites to be living through the time just prior to being taken into captivity in Babylon. King Solomon taught that there is nothing new under the sun, but we modern humans seem to think that everything that happens is a first in recorded history. Let's assume for a moment that the economic doomsayers are correct and we are headed into a dramatic worldwide recession (a point I am not generally willing to concede). How should the people of Christ react? What would God say to us in these times? I have to admit that I have never studied the book of Amos in depth, and cannot remember ever hearing a sermon preached out of it. I think that in general we miss a lot when we cut ourselves off from the wisdom of the past, and even more so when we ignore the very words of God preserved for us from time immemorial. No matter how dire our current situation appears, surely the Lord of Heaven has something of value for us. Perhaps it is time for us to delve deelpy into the ancient history of our faith and to wrestle with the unfamiliar passages that even the preachers tend to ignore. I know I will.
posted by Robert at
9:45 PM
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