Evening Prayer + Readings Home + Last + Next
Click HERE for books/eBooks on Daily Office Readings w/ Questions
Thursday
First Lesson
Amos 9:1-10
1 I saw the Lord standing upon the altar: and he said, Smite
the lintel of the door, that the posts may shake: and cut them
in the head, all of them; and I will slay the last of them with
the sword: he that fleeth of them shall not flee away, and he
that escapeth of them shall not be delivered.
2 Though
they dig into hell, thence shall mine hand take them; though
they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down:
3 And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will
search and take them out thence; and though they be hid from
my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the
serpent, and he shall bite them:
4 And though they go into captivity before their enemies, thence
will I command the sword, and it shall slay them: and I will
set mine eyes upon them for evil, and not for good.
5 And the Lord GOD of hosts is he that toucheth the land, and
it shall melt, and all that dwell therein shall mourn: and it
shall rise up wholly like a flood; and shall be drowned, as by
the flood of Egypt.
6 It is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and hath
founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth for the waters
of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth:
The LORD is his name.
7 Are ye not as children of the Ethiopians unto me, O children
of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel out of
the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the
Syrians from Kir?
8 Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom,
and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving
that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the
LORD.
9 For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel
among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall
not the least grain fall upon the earth.
10 All
the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The
evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.
1st Lesson Questions -
Even Israel didn't stay with the LORD. Why not? Are those choices still being made in our day by Christians? What does Vs. 2-4 say about my ability to hide from God? Have I ever said, or does my life reflect, the belief that evil shall not overtake or prevent me? (V. 10) RESOLVE.
Second Lesson
Galatians 4:21-31
21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear
the law?
22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a
bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh;
but he of the freewoman was by promise.
24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants;
the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which
is Agar.
25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem
which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother
of us all.
27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not;
break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate
hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him
that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman
and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with
the son of the freewoman.
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but
of the free.
2nd Lesson Questions -
What truth does the allegory of Hagar and Sarah portray? Which covenant am I under? Does my life reflect that in an obvious way? How so? If not, why not? RESOLVE.