In Amos, chapter 7 we read (quoting the Amplified translation throughout this post):
“1THUS THE Lord God showed me [Amos], and behold, He formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the second crop, and behold, it was the second crop after the king’s mowings.
2And when [the locusts] had finished eating the plants of the land, then I said, O Lord God, forgive, I pray You. How can Jacob stand? For he is so small!
3The Lord relented and revoked this sentence: It shall not take place, said the Lord [and He was eased and comforted concerning it].
4Thus the Lord God showed me, and behold, the Lord God called for punishment with fire, and it devoured the great deep and would have eaten up the land.
5Then said I, O Lord God, cease, I pray You! How can Jacob stand? He is so little!
6The Lord relented and revoked this sentence: This also shall not be, said the Lord [and He was eased and comforted concerning it].
7Thus He showed me, and behold, the Lord stood upon a wall with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand.
8And the Lord said to me, Amos, what do you see? And I said, A plumb line. Then said the Lord, Behold, I am setting a plumb line as a standard in the midst of My people Israel. I will not pass by and spare them any more [the door of mercy is shut].
9And the [idolatrous] high places of Isaac (Israel) shall be desolate and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste, and I will rise with the sword against the house of King Jeroboam [who set up the golden calf shrines].
10Then Amaziah the priest of [the golden calf shrine at] Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the land is not able to bear all his words.
11For thus Amos has said, Jeroboam shall die by the sword and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.
12Also Amaziah said to Amos, O you seer, go! Flee back to the land of Judah [your own country], and eat your bread and live out your profession as a prophet there [as I perform my duties here].
13But do not prophesy any more at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary and a seat of his kingdom.
14Then Amos said to Amaziah, I was no prophet [by profession]! Neither was I a prophet’s son; [but I had my occupation] I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees and a gatherer of sycamore figs.
15And the Lord took me as I followed the flock and the Lord said to me, Go, prophesy to My people Israel.
16Now therefore listen to the word of the Lord: You say, Do not prophesy against Israel and drop no statements not complimentary to the house of Isaac.
17Therefore thus says the Lord: Your wife shall be a harlot in the city and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up by line; you yourself shall die in an unclean and defiled land, and Israel shall surely go forth out of his land into exile.” “
Someone shared this perhaps often overlooked passage with me yesterday. Do you know much about Amos? Was he a great prophet? Was he well-liked? He was a simple shepherd from a small town in Judah. Yet, does he not provide another constant Biblical example that God will use even the ‘least’ to carry forth His message? This passage describes the large contemporary religious leaders of the time…Yet what did they say? Did they reject Amos’ message out of hand? Or did they not want to hear the truth?
Amos 2:11-13 also discusses a similar theme when it says:
“11And I raised up some of your sons for prophets and some of your young men for dedicated ones [Nazirites]. Is this not true, O you children of Israel? says the Lord.
12But you gave the dedicated ones [the Nazirites] wine to drink and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.
13Behold, I am pressed under you and I will press you down in your place as a cart presses that is full of sheaves.”
Did they really reject Amos’ message from the Lord? Or did they not want to hear it? What we find instead is that a main religious priest tells the King that Amos is a traitor, as he dared to speak uncomfortable reality. The people probably thought: “How can we be hurt? Look at our history, and how richly we have been blessed!” But is their history really what mattered? Was it Israel’s heritage that blessed them? Was it their religious leaders and their ‘authority’ that guided them accurately? When the King…when the prophets…when the people turned against God, did God not continually remind Israel (and Judah, at the time) of reality? Did He ’shrug His shoulders’ and let them be destroyed, or did He continually warn them? Should the people have been surprised at what eventually came to pass? Does God at any time attempt to set-up anyone for judgment? Or does Scripture describe even the most wicked of peoples getting chance after chance to correct their ways?
Amos chapter 3 describes the consequences of their refusal to heed constant warnings:
“ 1HEAR THIS word that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt:
2You only have I known (chosen, sympathized with, and loved) of all the families of the earth; therefore I will visit upon you all your wickedness and punish you for all your iniquities.
3Do two walk together except they make an appointment and have agreed?
4Will a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Will a young lion cry out of his den if he has taken nothing?
5Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth where there is no trap for him? Does a trap spring up from the ground when nothing at all has sprung it?
6Shall a trumpet be blown in the city and the people not be alarmed and afraid? Shall misfortune or evil occur [as punishment] and the Lord has not caused it?
7Surely the Lord God will do nothing [a]without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets.(A)
8The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?(B)
9Publish to the strongholds in Ashdod [Philistia] and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold what great tumults (confusion and disorder) are in her and what oppressions are in the midst of her.
10For they know not how to do right, says the Lord, they who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.
11Therefore thus says the Lord God: An adversary shall surround the land, and he shall bring down your defenses from you and your strongholds shall be plundered.
12Thus says the Lord: As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear [of a sheep], so shall the children of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued with the corner of a couch and [part of] the damask covering of a bed.
13Hear and bear witness in the house of Jacob, says the Lord God, the God of hosts,
14That in the day when I visit Israel’s transgressions upon him I will also visit [with punishment] the altars of Bethel [with its golden calf], and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground.
15And I will smite the winter house with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish and the many and great houses shall come to an end, says the Lord.”
Does this chapter describe sudden destruction? Or does this not state that God gives fair warning, not wishing anyone to be taken by surprise? Is God not a God of order and justice? Is not Amos chapter 3 a clear signal of constant hope to those who serve God? Doesn’t it reassure us that God will not act without clear and fair warning?
How then might this apply to us today? Are we looking to scripture, and heeding the examples and Words of the Lord? The Bible provides insight to those who pleased God, and those who did not. What does the Bible say about those who pleased God? According to Scripture, what is it that made people ‘righteous’ in the sight of God? How has God told us we must live? Are we allowed to call ourselves ‘God’s children’, or people ‘of God’, and then do whatever we want? Will God simply overlook our misdeeds or choices in life because we ‘have a good heart’? Are we not required to continually search God’s word, and compare our lives daily so that we may grow closer to the people God wants us to be?
In Amos 5, it says:
‘18Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you want the day of the Lord? It is darkness and not light;
19It is as if a man fled from a lion and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned with his hand against the wall and a serpent bit him.
20Shall not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light? Even very dark with no brightness in it?
21I hate, I despise your feasts, and I will not smell a savor or take delight in your solemn assemblies.
22Though you offer Me your burnt offerings and your cereal offerings, I will not accept them, neither will I look upon the peace or thank offerings of your fatted beasts.
23Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not listen to the melody of your harps.
24But let justice run down like waters and righteousness as a mighty and ever-flowing stream.
25Did you bring to Me sacrifices and cereal offerings during those forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?
26[No] but [instead of bringing Me the appointed sacrifices] you carried about the tent of your king Sakkuth and Kaiwan [names for the gods of the planet Saturn], your images of your star-god which you made for yourselves [and you will do so again].
27Therefore I will cause you to go into exile beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.”
Are we truly prepared for the day which we shall stand before the throne of the Lord? Will we recount our lives of a successful job, a house, a family, hopefully some nice vacations, and church activities? Hopefully some acts of kindness as well…Will we see a life focused on making a comfortable life for ourselves while ‘hopefully’ doing a little something for God? Or can we look back at a life spent advancing the gospel and message of Hope to mankind in the tasks God has given each one of us daily? Remember the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 7:
“Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven.
22Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and driven out demons in Your name and done many mighty works in Your name?
23And then I will say to them openly (publicly), I never knew you; depart from Me, you who act wickedly [disregarding My commands].
24So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them [obeying them] will be like a sensible (prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon the rock.
25And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.
26And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them will be like a stupid (foolish) man who built his house upon the sand.
27And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell–and great and complete was the fall of it.”
Are we prepared? Or are we fooling ourselves? Are we living a life of faith? Are we living a life focused first on serving Jesus, and ourselves afterwards? If not, are our priorities correct? What does the Bible say?
And if we are not living by faith…if we are not first focused on serving God each day with the opportunities which each day provides…Why are we going through the motions? In Revelation chapter 3 it says:
“15I know your [record of] works and what you are doing; you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot!
16So, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth!
17For you say, I am rich; I have prospered and grown wealthy, and I am in need of nothing; and you do not realize and understand that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
18Therefore I counsel you to purchase from Me gold refined and tested by fire, that you may be [truly] wealthy, and white clothes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nudity from being seen, and salve to put on your eyes, that you may see.
19Those whom I [dearly and tenderly] love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten [I discipline and instruct them]. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent [changing your mind and attitude].
20Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears and listens to and heeds My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will eat with him, and he [will eat] with Me.
21He who overcomes (is victorious), I will grant him to sit beside Me on My throne, as I Myself overcame (was victorious) and sat down beside My Father on His throne.
22He who is able to hear, let him listen to and heed what the [Holy] Spirit says to the assemblies (churches).”
Are we cold…hot…or in between? What is the Holy Spirit revealing to you this day? Furthermore, how are you responding? If Luke chapter 16 is true….if we cannot serve 2 masters…Whom do we serve? Do we serve ourselves, putting ourselves and our families first? Or do we serve God, putting Him first daily?:
“10He who is faithful in a very little [thing] is faithful also in much, and he who is dishonest and unjust in a very little [thing] is dishonest and unjust also in much.
11Therefore if you have not been faithful in the [case of] unrighteous mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions), who will entrust to you the true riches?
12And if you have not proved faithful in that which belongs to another [whether God or man], who will give you that which is your own [that is, the true riches]?
13No servant is able to serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (riches, or anything in which you trust and on which you rely).”
Joshua chapter 24 says:
“15And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Whom do you serve? Will we heed the warnings of prophets such as Amos? Are we entering times where following God and His Word are not popular? Even so, will not God stay consistent, and ever true to His Word and prior actions…Will He not keep searching until He finds people to do His work? And furthermore, can we not take hope in the fact that God is consistent, and that He provides hope and fair warning so that His people do not lose heart?
What do you think?
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