Amos 3:1-8
Hear this word, people of Israel, the word the Lord has spoken against you—against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt:
2 “You only have I chosen
of all the families of the earth;
therefore I will punish you
for all your sins.”
3 Do two walk together
unless they have agreed to do so?
4 Does a lion roar in the thicket
when it has no prey?
Does it growl in its den
when it has caught nothing?
5 Does a bird swoop down to a trap on the ground
when no bait is there?
Does a trap spring up from the ground
if it has not caught anything?
6 When a trumpet sounds in a city,
do not the people tremble?
When disaster comes to a city,
has not the Lord caused it?
7 Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing
without revealing his plan
to his servants the prophets.
8 The lion has roared—
who will not fear?
The Sovereign Lord has spoken—
who can but prophesy?
Through Amos God continues to speak to His chosen people. Just because Israel was His chosen people, that did not mean their sins went unpunished. God is not undoing the covenant relationship between Himself and His people just as a parent today disciplines their child but still loves them and acts out of love toward them. Here Amos, in verse 6, describes God as being the One who brings disaster through events, enemies. It is tempting today to avoid such thinking and keep God just for the good times and events. We don’t want others to think our God is harsh, unloving. We blame enemies and nature, and keep God and sin out of the whole picture and look for the comforting stories of how God is working despite the horrific situations. I am not claiming I fully get my head around all of this but I wonder if part of that frame of mind is from allowing worldviews and not Scripture to have authority in how we make sense of the world. That is not to say we bend scripture to suit our views and then justify them by saying they are scriptural.
The cross had not happened in Amos’s time, as it has for us, where God’s wrath has been poured out, but we must keep it before us so we don’t detach it from our sin. When we keep the cross and our sin connected, we can celebrate the resurrection in confidence. God is sovereign over all. All sin needs addressing but for those of us as God’s people there is a higher calling and a greater sorrow to our sin the more we walk with the Holy One. It is why the enemies get warned but there is not a conversation, a reminder of how God loves them, as there is with Israel.
This is a passage that is hard to hear with modern ears, what do we do with God being behind disasters? Don’t be afraid to ask the question, read, talk with others, be conscious of how our present cultural mindsets impact our thinking.
Father in Heaven, over all and in these words Amos spoke. Give us the courage to sit with them, to stay close to You, that we may see as You see, to love as You love, to be slow to anger. Grow in us a confidence that You are sovereign over all and in all for Your glory and in that glory may we know our place and peace. In Jesus name we pray.
Joshua's Tree Rooted 