GPS for the week of July 13th, 2025
“Hear This, You That Trample On The Needy…”
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“The point of the sabbath is to honor our need for a sane rhythm of
work and rest. It is to honor the body’s need for rest, the spirit’s need
for replenishment and the soul’s need to delight in God for God’s own
sake. It begins with a willingness to acknowledge the limits of our
humanness and take steps to live more graciously within the order of
things (Ruth Haley Barton).”
Dear Lord, help us to intentionally take time to delight in you and
learn to live graciously toward everyone around us. Amen.
Monday 7.14 “Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.”
Amos 8:1-12
“This is what the Lord God showed me—a basket of summer fruit.
He said, ‘Amos, what do you see?’ And I said, ‘A basket of summer
fruit.’ Then the Lord said to me, ‘The end has come upon my people
Israel; I will never again pass them by. The songs of the temple shall
become wailings in that day,’ says the Lord God; ‘the dead bodies
shall be many, cast out in every place. Be silent!’ Hear this, you that
trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying,
‘When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the
sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the
ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false
balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of
sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.’ The Lord has
sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their
deeds.” Are we also caught up in the rush to gain more of everything
for ourselves?
Tuesday 7.15 “Shall not the land tremble on this account?”
Amos 8:1-12
“Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who
lives in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink
again, like the Nile of Egypt? On that day, says the Lord God, I will
make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad
daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into
lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every
head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it
like a bitter day. The time is surely coming, says the Lord God, when
I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for
water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from
sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking
the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.” We will not hear the
words of the Lord unless we give up our striving to dominate others
and quietly listen.
Wednesday 7.16 “But I am like a green olive tree in the house
of God.”
Psalm 52
“Why do you boast, O mighty one, of mischief done against the
godly? All day long you are plotting destruction. Your tongue is like a
sharp razor, you worker of treachery. You love evil more than good,
and lying more than speaking the truth. Selah. You love all words
that devour, O deceitful tongue. But God will break you down forever;
he will snatch and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the
land of the living. Selah. The righteous will see, and fear, and will
laugh at the evildoer, saying, ‘See the one who would not take refuge
in God, but trusted in abundant riches, and sought refuge in wealth!’
But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God. I trust in the
steadfast love of God forever and ever. I will thank you forever,
because of what you have done. In the presence of the faithful I will
proclaim your name, for it is good.” We must give up seeking the
destruction of others and take refuge in the grace of our Lord.
Thursday 7.17 “Things visible and invisible.”
Colossians 1:15-28
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for
in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible
and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all
things have been created through him and for him. He himself is
before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head
of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the
dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in
him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him
God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth
or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.” We
will never fully know the wondrous creation of our Lord in this life on
earth. But we rejoice in what we see and what we know God has
created.
Friday 7.18 “And you who were once estranged and
hostile in mind…”
Colossians 1:15-28
“And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil
deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as
to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him—
provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the
faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you
heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven. I,
Paul, became a servant of this gospel. I am now rejoicing in my
sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is
lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the
church. I became its servant according to God’s commission that
was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the
mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations
but has now been revealed to his saints. To them God chose to
make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory
of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. It is he
whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all
wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.” We
must not lose sight of the hope promised in the gospel of our Lord
Jesus.
Saturday 7.19 “Mary has chosen the better part…”
Luke 10:38-42
“Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a
woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a
sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he
was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she
came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left
me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the
Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted
by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen
the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’” Let us
constantly take time to sit at our Lord’s feet and listen.