Prayers from Amos

Amos 9:1-6

I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said:

“Strike the tops of the pillars
    so that the thresholds shake.
Bring them down on the heads of all the people;
    those who are left I will kill with the sword.
Not one will get away,
    none will escape.
² Though they dig down to the depths below,
    from there my hand will take them.
Though they climb up to the heavens above,
    from there I will bring them down.
³ Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,
    there I will hunt them down and seize them.
Though they hide from my eyes at the bottom of the sea,
    there I will command the serpent to bite them.
⁴ Though they are driven into exile by their enemies,
    there I will command the sword to slay them.

“I will keep my eye on them
    for harm and not for good.”

⁵ The Lord, the Lord Almighty—
he touches the earth and it melts,
    and all who live in it mourn;
the whole land rises like the Nile,
    then sinks like the river of Egypt;
⁶ he builds his lofty palace^[a] in the heavens
    and sets its foundation^[b] on the earth;
he calls for the waters of the sea
    and pours them out over the face of the land—
    the Lord is his name.

Maybe not the first passage we would take a person to who was wanting to know more about the living God. This again does not sit comfortably with the image we often try to portray.  There is not much love and compassion on first read through. We cannot skip over these words though.  They are the Living God’s very own words of how He will act. We cannot cherry pick our image of God else we risk worshipping a man-made god who is no different than the gods of Baal and others. When we hold them in the wider picture of scripture of who God is they make more sense. This is what it means in part to be the Holy One. Justice, judgement and mercy go hand in hand. Mercy is there for all if we follow God. Where does God begin this judgement? At the altar. At the centre of the Jewish faith and life. It’s not just out there on others. There is nowhere one can go to avoid God. Lowest depths, highest heights, He will find us. He is sovereign, the earth is His. We are not His puppets but we are His, in His world. How are we going to live, by His plumb line or not? When we come in prayer to God, when we worship God, my prayer is we hold these words along with all the lines that speak of His love. His love is as vast as His judgement but we must not reduce God to just being loving. He is who He says He is and we need to be real with ourselves about that.

Father thank You that You speak for Yourself. Thank You that we do not need to create our own gods to appease and navigate. Thank You for Your great mercy and compassion and justice that will right all wrongs in ways we could never do in our own strengths. In Jesus name.