Daily Devotional
Strength and Withering
David’s victories and Amos’s warnings meet at one point: the Lord rules over nations, wealth, armies, seasons, and breath. David subdued kings, received tribute, and appointed officers and priests; yet none of this means that God is pleased with mere outward strength. The same Lord who grants dominion also searches the use of it. If the mighty oppress the poor, if the rich demand drink while the needy are crushed, their splendor is already rotting before the judgment appears.
Amos shows that famine, drought, blight, and loss are not blind events. They are the rod of a Lord who calls a stubborn people back. Cyprian repeats the prophet’s grief: “And two and three cities shall be gathered into one city to drink water, and shall not be satisfied; and you are not converted…” Earthly lack is bitter; hardness of heart under correction is worse. To be struck and still refuse repentance is a deeper calamity than thirst.
Nor should we boast in possession. Even among Israel, not all received an earthly inheritance, “because the oblations of the people were the lot of Levi, and the inheritance of their tribe.” Some were appointed to service, not accumulation. So also among us: what we hold is for right use under God, not for pride, luxury, or the neglect of the weak.
Therefore let the strong fear, let the prosperous repent, and let those entrusted with any office serve justly. The Lord who gives victory also sends drought; He who establishes a kingdom also weighs it. Better now to loose your grip on excess, make restitution, and return to mercy than to be withered under His reproof.
“Moreover, another prophet repeats, and says, And I will cause it to rain upon one city, and upon another city I will cause it not to rain. One piece shall be rained upon, and the piece whereon I send no rain shall be withered. And two and three cities shall be gathered into one city to drink water, and shall not be satisfied; and you are not converted…”
— Cyprian, Treatises
“since their employment was the ministration to the tabernacle, therefore they had not any lot or inheritance in the land among the children of Israel, because the oblations of the people were the lot of Levi, and the inheritance of their tribe.”
— Apostolic Constitutions, Apostolic Constitutions
For Reflection & Discussion
What excess of food, drink, money, or comfort will you give up this week so that the poor may be relieved by your alms?
Whom have you burdened, underpaid, ignored, or spoken over while keeping ease for yourself, and what restitution or confession will you make today?
At the next set hour of prayer, what specific warning, loss, or hardship will you receive as God’s call to repentance rather than hardening yourself against it?
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