Prayers from Amos

Amos 9:7-15

“Are not you Israelites
    the same to me as the Cushites^[a]?”
declares the Lord.
“Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt,
    the Philistines from Caphtor^[b]
    and the Arameans from Kir?

⁸ “Surely the eyes of the Sovereign Lord
    are on the sinful kingdom.
I will destroy it
    from the face of the earth.
Yet I will not totally destroy
    the descendants of Jacob,”
declares the Lord.
⁹ “For I will give the command,
    and I will shake the people of Israel
    among all the nations
as grain is shaken in a sieve,
    and not a pebble will reach the ground.
¹⁰ All the sinners among my people
    will die by the sword,
all those who say,
    ‘Disaster will not overtake or meet us.’

Israel’s Restoration

¹¹ “In that day

“I will restore David’s fallen shelter—
    I will repair its broken walls
    and restore its ruins—
    and will rebuild it as it used to be,
¹² so that they may possess the remnant of Edom
    and all the nations that bear my name,^[c]”
declares the Lord, who will do these things.

¹³ “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,

“when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman
    and the planter by the one treading grapes.
New wine will drip from the mountains
    and flow from all the hills,
¹⁴     and I will bring my people Israel back from exile.^[d]

“They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
    They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
    they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
¹⁵ I will plant Israel in their own land,
    never again to be uprooted
    from the land I have given them,”

says the Lord your God.

Hope. It’s taken a while to get here, but our God is more than judgement. He will redeem, He will restore, there will be new wine. Us, His people will be planted in a new land never to be uprooted again. That day we know is coming because of Christ’s resurrection. There is that glorious day that we can lay hold of to bring us to that future. Let us hold onto that without forgetting all we have read before. Justice and mercy are hand in hand with the living God. We miss out when we leave one part out. Praying for us all to walk humbly, love mercy and that we will not reduce God to our comfort and limits, but allow Him to be who He says He is, I will be who I will be.

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
 Give us today our daily bread.
 And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
 And lead us not into temptation,
    but deliver us from the evil one.