Amos 1 – 9

With the phrase “Hear this word…” (3:1, 4:1, 5:1 and 8:4), the prophet Amos foretells of pending punishment Yahweh will bring against Israel, her neighbors and Judah. During the reigns of Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam II of Israel, El Shaddai gives warning of the destruction of Israel that was only a couple of decades into the future. His words echo, “Prepare to meet your God…” (4:12). Even so, the compassionate and loving God whose righteousness demands justice speaks through His prophet about the coking of Messiah. There is hope. There is a future. Then, as now, however, Yahweh is concerned with the present.

Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’ The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness that, behold, the days are coming upon you, when they shall take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishhooks. And you shall go out through the breaches, each one straight ahead; and you shall be cast out into Harmon,” declares the LORD. “Come to Bethel, and transgress; to Gilgal, and multiply transgression; bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days; offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them; for so you love to do, O people of Israel!” declares the Lord GOD.

Amos 4:1-5

Then, as now, some folks lose both an interest in and a zeal for worship. Life happens and distractions come. What most people do not appreciate is there is a direct connection between our personal lives and accepted worship. The offerings are meaningless when daily life includes oppression and abuse of others. Some in Israel were looking to worship as a form of balm to soothe their conscience because of how they lived and mistreated people. It does not work that way. As Amos says, it only multiplies the transgression. True worship overflows from pure lives, and that purity is preparation to meet our God in worship.

I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places, yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD. “I also withheld the rain from you when there were yet three months to the harvest; I would send rain on one city, and send no rain on another city; one field would have rain, and the field on which it did not rain would wither; so two or three cities would wander to another city to drink water, and would not be satisfied; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD. “I struck you with blight and mildew; your many gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD. “I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, and carried away your horses, and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD. “I overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.

Amos 4:6-11

Then, as now, folks choose to seek wholeheartedly after worldly treasures, but half-heartedly seek spiritual wealth. All of the famine, drought, pestilence, and war did not turn their hearts and minds back to God. Israel was not of a spiritual mindset to understand these things were from God, just as He foretold. Yahweh intended these things to strike a chord and remind them of their obligations to Him. Purity and repentance are the fruit God expects from wayward children. An exclusive focus on the physical precludes such a message hitting home. A lifestyle of repentance is daily preparation to meet God where we live.

Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes! Pass over to Calneh, and see, and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory, O you who put far away the day of disaster and bring near the seat of violence? “Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory and stretch themselves out on their couches, and eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp and like David invent for themselves instruments of music, who drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with the finest oils, but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

Amos 6:1-6

Then, as now, some folks are simply self-satisfied and quite contented with their lives apart from God. Apathy toward Yahweh and indifference toward the plight of hurting people is a toxic spiritual mixture. In reality is a prison of the cruelest sort. The self-delusion that one does not need God will result in the greatest shock when judgment comes. Contrarily, Yahweh has always sought those who are aware of His presence and seek to stay close to Him. Paul tells us that godliness with contentment is the key to success in life. Sensing God in everyday life today in preparation to meet our God where He dwells tomorrow.

Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile, and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.” The Lord GOD has sworn by himself, declares the LORD, the God of hosts: “I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his strongholds, and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.” And if ten men remain in one house, they shall die. And when one’s relative, the one who anoints him for burial, shall take him up to bring the bones out of the house, and shall say to him who is in the innermost parts of the house, “Is there still anyone with you?” he shall say, “No”; and he shall say, “Silence! We must not mention the name of the LORD.” For behold, the LORD commands, and the great house shall be struck down into fragments, and the little house into bits. Do horses run on rocks? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood—you who rejoice in Lo-debar, who say, “Have we not by our own strength captured Karnaim for ourselves?” “For behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel,” declares the LORD, the God of hosts; “and they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of the Arabah.”

Amos 6:7-14

Then, as now, far too many seek time away from God instead of seeking time with God. Folks try to maintain a strange compartmentalization in life where God is kept in His place. This, too, is a great delusion. There is nowhere we can go that God is not already there. Yahweh consistently calls people to His side. He calls people to separate from the world and come to Him. Sadly, so many push Him away and try to live like He will simply go away forever. The reality of the eternal God in the temporal realm is that He must be our life so He can live through us. Faithful living day-by-day, walking with God each step is preparing to meet Him for the endless day in heaven.

And Amaziah said to Amos, “O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.” Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now therefore hear the word of the LORD. “You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’ Therefore thus says the LORD: “‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line; you yourself shall die in an unclean land, and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.'”

Amos 7:12-17

Then, as now, some folks simply do not want to hear what God has to say. Amaziah told the people and rulers what they wanted to hear. Paul foretold the day when believers would gather teachers willing to scratch itching ears rather than step on toes. God’s message is relevant at all times. His word guides, warns, protects and transforms. Listening to what He has spoken now is preparing to meet God face-to-face and longing to hear what He has to say then … “well done, good and faithful servant”.

Consider His nature.  Consider His ways.  Strive to love Him more!