Gems of Knowledge

Today’s One Year Bible Verses: Amos 4:1-6:14, Revelation 2:18-3:6, Psalm 130:1-8, Proverbs 29:21-22

---

He Is Our Hope

Psalm 130:3–4 (NLT)
“Lord, if you kept a record of our sins, who, O Lord, could ever survive?
But you offer forgiveness, that we might learn to fear You.”

There is something so humbling about the way God deals with His people.
He doesn’t forgive us so we can take Him lightly.
He forgives so we can finally see His holiness clearly.
Forgiveness teaches us to fear Him rightly—to hold His love and His power in the same breath.

As we read through Amos 4–6 today, that truth echoed again and again. God lists everything He allowed—famine, drought, plagues, ruined harvests—not to destroy the people but to draw them back. Over and over, He says:

“But still you would not return to Me…”

And finally:

“Come back to Me and live.”

This is the heart of God.
Not anger.
Not spite.
Not abandonment.

But a Father pleading:

“Please come back. Please return. Please turn while there is still time.”

Then in Revelation 2:18–3:6 we hear the very same cry. Jesus confronts a church that tolerated immorality and false teaching. He says of Jezebel:

“I gave her time to repent, but she does not want to turn from her immorality.”

He sees everything — our loyalty, our love, our endurance, our works.
But He also sees where our actions
do not meet His requirements.

So what does He ask of us?

Not perfection.
Not more activity.
Not outward strength.

He says:

“Go back to what you heard and believed at first; hold to it firmly.”
(Rev. 3:3)

Return to your first love.
Return to childlike faith.
Return to purity of heart.
Return to what stirred your spirit before anything became complicated.

And then He adds this sober warning:

“If you don’t wake up, I will come to you suddenly, as unexpected as a thief.”

It is mercy that warns us.
It is love that confronts us.
It is grace that pleads:

“Come back to Me and live.”

Psalm 130 ends with a truth we desperately need in this hour:

“I am counting on the Lord… I have put my hope in His word.”
(verse 5)

Our only hope is Him.
Not our works.
Not our endurance.
Not our church culture.
Not our knowledge.
Not our systems.

Just Him.

The God who forgives us.
The God who teaches us to fear Him.
The God who pleads with us to return.
The God who gives time to repent.
The God who comes to restore those who hold on to what they first believed.

And the question hangs in the air:

Will we return?
Will we repent?
Will we fear the Lord? 💎

---

Action (5 Minutes with God)

Take five minutes with the Lord today and ask Him:

• “What do you want me to know about this today, Lord?”
  • Journal what He whispers by His Holy Spirit.
• Then ask, “What do you want me to do?”
  • Journal what He whispers – then do it!

Let today be a day of returning and holding tightly to the truth He offers.

---

Prayer

Lord, You are the God who loves. You are the God who forgives, and You are the God who warns. Teach me to fear You rightly — to honor Your holiness while resting in Your love. Wake me from any place where I have strayed or grown dull. Bring me back to what I first believed, and strengthen me to hold it firmly. I choose to return. I choose to live. You alone are my hope. Amen.

To read more 5 Minutes with God devotionals click here.