–Job 27:6 (NASB)
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Matthew Henry states, “Where God has a mouth to speak, we must have an ear to hear; it is our duty, it is our interest; yet so stupid are most men, that they to be again and again called upon to hear the word of the Lord; to give audience, to give attention; hear this word.”  He doesn’t mince words–men are stupid when they do not listen to the Word of the Lord.  
     Listen to the prophet:  Hear God’s Word!

5.1 — Hear this word which I take up against you, a lamentation, O house of Israel:      5.1 — Hear this word which I am taking up for you as a song or mourning house of Israel:
5.2 — The virgin of Israel has fallen; she will rise no more.  She lies forsaken on           5.2 — She has fallen, she will not rise again–the virgin Israel.  She lies unnoticed on her
her land; there is no one to raise her up.                                                                         land; there is no one to raise her up.
5.3 — For thus says the Lord GOD:  “The city that goes out by a thousand shall            5.3 — For this is what the Lord GOD says:  “The city which goes forth a thousand strong
have a hundred left, and that which goes out by a hundred shall have ten left to           will have a hundred left, and the one which goes forth a hundred strong will have ten left
the house of Israel.”  (NKJV)                                                                                           to the house of Israel.”  (NASB)

Amos is mourning Israel; there is bad news.  These verses are a lament or dirge over Israel.  Note that lamenting is usually done after death.  What is the prophet doing?  It is a time of festivities at Bethel; Israel is prosperous, yet here this prophet is singing a dirge over its death.  He is preaching a funeral sermon to the nation of Israel, much like was told to John, “You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.” (Revelation 3:1, NKJV)  Inside the nation was rotten.  As Warren W. Wiersbe says, “The way we treat God’s Word is the way we treat God.”  It would do the United States to take a deep, hearty look inside to see the rottenness and the wickedness as it has turned away from the morality of God’s Word.  Look inside, before the cancer eats away at the innards.
     Listen to the Word of God — America:  Hear God’s Word!
     Death is upon you.  Hope and dreams and aspirations are gone.  “The virgin has fallen; she will rise no more.”  The corpse will be left to rot.  A rotting body leaves a stench, and the prophet knows that it is already decaying inside.  The army and mighty men will not be able to help; they will not be able to withstand the might of the Assyrians.  
     Wiersbe points out, “There can be no victory when the Lord has abandoned you to your fate, because you have abandoned Him.”  Wake up!  Do not mock God!  Hear God’s Word–repent for now is the day of salvation.  Recall the blessing proclaimed in Psalm 33:12, “Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD…” (NKJV)
     Hear, O Israel, the Word of the Lord — Listen, O people of America and heed the Word of the Lord.  Perhaps there is still time.  “Will You not revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You?  Show us Your mercy, LORD, and grant us Your salvation.  I will hear what God the LORD will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints; but let them not turn back to folly.  Surely His salvation is near to those who fear Him, that glory may dwell in our land.” (Psalm 85:6-9, NKJV)  Only when we fear the Lord and obey His Word will He smile upon us.  Is the prophet beginning His death chant?  Let it not be Lord, but let us turn to You.

                    –Psalm 107:30 (RSV)
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Psalm 131, what a psalm and prayer to begin the month of December with!  It speaks of a quiet and calm spirit, a trusting soul, and a simple faith.

          1 — LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty; neither do I concern myself with great matters, nor with things too profound for me.
          2 — Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with his mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.
          3 — O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forever.  (NKJV)

What a simple pronouncement of faith.  It was John Bunyan who said, “Hope is never ill when faith is well.”  If our hope wavers or despairs it is because we are weak in our faith.  Perhaps our faith is weak because we hope and put our trust in the wrong things.  If that is so, it is idolatry.  Listen, there are things that you’re never going to have in life, places you’re never going to go, and dreams that are never going to be fulfilled.  The things once thought important are no longer attainable for one reason or another.  As David implies in this psalm, let go of things that do not matter, things that hold you down, things that are not really all that important.  In other words, get rid of self-centeredness and focus on God.
     Focus not on the things that you cannot control, but on God and the things that are under your control.  There is a great little prayer that AA use, but it is fitting for all of us.  “Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”  David purposes to be still and quiet before God.  He waits upon the Lord in calm expectation–He is there.  Like a child who has been weaned, he still must depend upon his parents to bring him proper nourishment.  He still must trust his parents for everything.  As Steven Lawson points out, “This is to be the position of the believer, quietly submissive and trusting in God.”
     Lawson writes, “Childlike trust always has an element of hope.  As a person trusts in God, a positive confidence in God regarding the future floods his soul.”  Our hope is in the Lord, that must also be where our faith rests.  The foundation of faith and hope is found in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” (NKJV)  I recall the words of the grand old hymn:

          “My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;
          I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.”
                    –Edward Mote

     Our contentment is not in circumstances or material goods, or gain in our career.  Our contentment is to be in the Lord.  Our hope must be based in Him from this time forth and forever.  J. Oswald Sanders said, “There is no conceivable situation in which it is not safe to trust God.”  God is always worthy of our full trust.

          “He came down to earth from heaven
          Who is God and Lord of all,
          And his shelter was a stable,
          And his cradle was a stall:
          With the poor and mean and lowly
          Lived on earth, our Savior holy.”
                  –Cecil Frances Alexander

                    –Elmer Kelton  (The Pumpkin Rollers)

       “Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make melody to our God on the lyre!”

                    –Psalm 147:7 (ESV)
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          “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
          Praise Him, all creatures here below;
          Praise Him above, ye heav’nly host;
          Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”
                    –Thomas Ken

As I was sitting around the campfire yesterday, pondering on what to write, the words of the above hymn kept flowing through my mind.  Simple song, yet the words are full of meaning.  “Praise!”  WOW, what a meaningful word and often used in a trivial way.  We give praise far too often to mediocre individuals and events.  But then, perhaps the person voicing the praise is one of those mentioned in Proverbs, and I’m not speaking of the person of wisdom.  
     The Oxford Dictionary isn’t much help–“the expression of approval or admiration for someone or something.”  It doesn’t really do God honor and justice.  God is worthy of praise.  It refers to lifting Him up in our mind; an action and purpose of the will.  We have to will ourselves to praise God.  Someone said this about praise, “It is the joyful recounting of what God has done for us.  Praise and Thanksgiving go hand in hand…  Praise is the acknowledgment of all the wonderful, righteous deeds of God.”
     One of the most important aspects of praise is that of thanking God for His blessings in our lives.  We could spend hours discussing all that He has done from us from our first breath to where we are currently in life.  Oh, some may scoff at this and say that God has never done anything for them, but they think too small.  Breath, gravity, the systems of physics and the body–the natural world declares His wonder and without them life could not exist.  I wonder, and I include myself, if we have ever thanked God for gravity.  I’m sure Sir Isaac did, but imagine life without it.
     Thank Him for His creation, thank Him for the starry sky and the wonders of the heavens.  Thank Him that He is your heavenly Father and He cares for you.  Thank Him for the Son, Jesus Christ, and what He has done for man to bring him back in relationship to God by offering Him redemption.  Thank Him for the promise of the Holy Spirit who is sent to guide us into all truth.  With each of these we could spend hours thanking God and there have been countless books written about theology.
     One more thought–as you sit down to partake of the bounty that will be set before you on Thanksgiving, use it as an opportunity to thank God for the “blessed hope.”  One day we will be at the great supper in heaven united once again with loved ones and friends.  Talk about fellowship and feasting, but I would implore you now to thank God of what is to come.  The words of Revelation 19:9 end thusly, “These are the true words of God.” (NIV)
     This will be the last Echo until December.  Take time this Thanksgiving season to be thankful for all that God has blessed you with.  Take time to ponder, not merely voice words.  In closing this morning‘s note I leave you with Psalm 113:1-3 (NIV), and perhaps it wouldn’t be too far wrong after you read it the first time, to read it again substituting “praise” with “thanks.”

          1 — Praise the LORD.  Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD.
          2 — Let the name of the LORD be praised, both now and forevermore.
          3 — From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets the name of the LORD is to be praised.

                    –Isaiah 40:29 (KJV)
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The end is near, the trip is almost over.  You think there would be joy and excitement, but then after climbing one hill you discover there’s still another to climb.  The knees get weak and buckle.  The same is trying to walk this journey of life bearing the burden of sin.  Oh, what a burden reliever is Christ.  Look at Psalm 130 and gain hope and renewed vigor for the rest of the trek.
   
          1 — Out of the depths I have cried to You, O LORD;
          2 — Lord, hear my voice!  Let Your ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
          3 — If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
          4 — But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.
          5 — I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word do I hope.
          6 — My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning–yes, more than those who watch for the morning.
          7 — O Israel, hope in the LORD; for with the LORD there is mercy, and with Him is abundant redemption.
          8 — And He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.   (NKJV)

     Remember that this is a song of ascent, not descent.  Woe to the one who quits now and begins to walk back down the trail.  Continue on, hearken to God’s word, rely upon His mercy.  During the day and at night when the traveling is over take time to repent and confess your sins.  It will help your soul get back on the right track.  Strength is gone, but there is the hope in Christ that He will forgive and lift you up.   Notice the psalmist is desperate–“hear my voice!”  
     Sometimes you find yourself in a situation not of your making.  You are tripped, you get caught in a snare, you fall over a rock or root in the path.  Other times you just plain have given into temptation.  Your sinful desires took you astray.  However, “At all times you must take responsibility for your feelings no matter how you crashed.” (George Wood)  If not, we could fall into sin, but reacting wrongly to the situation not of our creation.  Now get this–God is with you and is fully willing to forgive!   As Steven Lawson said, “If God kept a record of sins, never to forgive them, no one could stand with acceptance before Him.”  Aren’t you glad He doesn’t keep score?   It is His nature to forgive if we come to Him humbly.  “The result of true forgiveness is never a lackadaisical attitude but holy fear toward God.  Divine pardon, rightly understood and humbly received, will always lead to deep reverence for God.” (Lawson)  
     What a psalm for this Thanksgiving season.  God forgives!  If we ask, He is ready and willing.  I like what George Wood says, “The Lord does not offer empty words or incomplete solutions to your need.”  There is full forgiveness, full restoration, full reconciliation.  “He brought me out of the miry clay.  He set my feet on the Rock to stay; He puts a song in my soul today, A song of praise, hallelujah.” (H.L. Gilmour)
     Notice that the psalmist waits as eagerly as the watchman waits for the dawn.  That was the time when they would be relieved of the burden of the night.  They looked forward to that respite just as we can when we call upon the Lord.  We put our hope in Him.  We rest in His love and He brings peace to our soul.  There is another side-note at the end of this psalm:  the redemption of Israel.  There will come a day when those of the covenant will finally receive Jesus as the Messiah and then God will restore them.  “He himself will free Israel from every kind of sin.” (NLT)
   
               “In tenderness he sought me, weary and sick with sin,
               And on his shoulders brought me back to his fold again.
               While angels in his presence sang
               Until the courts of heaven rang.”
                       –W. Spencer Walton