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.

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.

Amos 8:7-14.

The Lord has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget anything they have done.

⁸ “Will not the land tremble for this,
    and all who live in it mourn?
The whole land will rise like the Nile;
    it will be stirred up and then sink
    like the river of Egypt.

⁹ “In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord,

“I will make the sun go down at noon
    and darken the earth in broad daylight.
¹⁰ I will turn your religious festivals into mourning
    and all your singing into weeping.
I will make all of you wear sackcloth
    and shave your heads.
I will make that time like mourning for an only son
    and the end of it like a bitter day.

¹¹ “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord,
    “when I will send a famine through the land—
not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
    but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
¹² People will stagger from sea to sea
    and wander from north to east,
searching for the word of the Lord,
    but they will not find it.

¹³ “In that day

“the lovely young women and strong young men
    will faint because of thirst.
¹⁴ Those who swear by the sin of Samaria—
    who say, ‘As surely as your god lives, Dan,’
    or, ‘As surely as the god^[a] of Beersheba lives’—
    they will fall, never to rise again.”

Not easy reading, but we have come to expect that in these words. Not easy to think that God’s word will be hidden, withdrawn from people. Remember God’s words are not being addressed to Gentiles but His own people. To people like us who rest in our church attendance and involvement in programs. This is a clear reminder to each of us to seek God, not successful programs, not numbers. To not rest in the reputation of the church we attend, the leaders who serve us. Let us not take scripture for granted, as something that will always be there whenever we feel like coming to it. Let us be deliberate and intentional in opening up God’s word day by day and sharing with others what God is saying to us.

Father in Heaven, may we never stop seeking our daily bread from You. May we never grow weary of walking the path You have set before us. In Jesus name we pray.

Amos 8:1-6

This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit. ² “What do you see, Amos?” he asked.

“A basket of ripe fruit,” I answered.

Then the Lord said to me, “The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

³ “In that day,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “the songs in the temple will turn to wailing.^[a] Many, many bodies—flung everywhere! Silence!”

⁴ Hear this, you who trample the needy
    and do away with the poor of the land,

⁵ saying,

“When will the New Moon be over
    that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended
    that we may market wheat?”—
skimping on the measure,
    boosting the price
    and cheating with dishonest scales,
⁶ buying the poor with silver
    and the needy for a pair of sandals,
    selling even the sweepings with the wheat.

Again a challenge to how we live out our faith in reality over words. How do we respond to the needs that cross our path? We cannot solve every need but our response, our reaction, our choices impact others in more ways than we can know.

Do we practice Sabbath? We were challenged by the children on this one during lockdown. With not having the regular structure of going to church on Sundays while the one activity that has been consistent, cricket, having matches on Sunday, our Sabbath has very much blended into every other day but as they are read their Bibles and as we’ve read Eric Liddell’s biography, they want to be intentional and honour God in their days but need our leading.

Paying fair price, an easy one to justify not doing when trying to make a budget work? Yet no where in Scripture say that we can justifiably afford to neglect the needs of others. WE always need to create a space for gleaning and welcome people into that space. Needing to pray with God and ask Him to help navigate where we make the choices as we know our budget doesn’t enable us to make all the ethical choices we would like to do, how many of those things do we need to buy if we cannot actually pay fair price? Supply chains can feel distant from us but check out IJM again and others to bring that reality back home. Let us not rest in our worship, our service, our studies. Let us come before God and as with Amos be open to God, to His living word and be ready, humble and willing to change and respond as He asks.

Father as we sit with Your word to us, may we allow it to transform our hearts, minds and actions. May we respond and in so doing bring Your Kingdom here on earth that all may taste and know Your goodness. In Jesus name we pray.

Amos 7:10-17

 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. ¹¹ For this is what Amos is saying:

“‘Jeroboam will die by the sword,
    and Israel will surely go into exile,
    away from their native land.’”

¹² Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. ¹³ Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.”

¹⁴ Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. ¹⁵ But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ ¹⁶ Now then, hear the word of the Lord. You say,

“‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
    and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’

¹⁷ “Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city,
    and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword.
Your land will be measured and divided up,
    and you yourself will die in a pagan^[a] country.
And Israel will surely go into exile,
    away from their native land.’”

Amos the shepherd, echos of who God tells first of the birth of His Son, and Amaziah, Israel’s chief priest. Amaziah the educated one who should know God’s word and Amos who probably has little education. Yet it is Amos who was open to God’s word and followed it, whereas Amaziah is more concerned with position, stature and religion which he can be control, measure, judge. So Amaziah seeks to stir trouble. If people were to start listening to Amos, who is not coming with cheery easy words, he, Amaziah might find he has problems on his hands and find his position and no doubt the privileges and luxuries that go with it in danger. The challenge for us is are we open to the Living God speaking and speaking through people we may think have less to offer? Do we hold our roles and positions lightly enough that if the Living God calls us to lay them down we will?

Our Father who is in Heaven, whose kingdom breaks through among us, humble us that we may hear, receive and respond to Your word as You so choose to give it to us. In Jesus name we pray.

Amos 7:1-9

 This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts after the king’s share had been harvested and just as the late crops were coming up. ² When they had stripped the land clean, I cried out, “Sovereign Lord, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!”

³ So the Lord relented.

“This will not happen,” the Lord said.

⁴ This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: The Sovereign Lord was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land. ⁵ Then I cried out, “Sovereign Lord, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!”

⁶ So the Lord relented.

“This will not happen either,” the Sovereign Lord said.

⁷ This is what he showed me: The Lord was standing by a wall that had been built true to plumb,^[a] with a plumb line^[b] in his hand. ⁸ And the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Amos?”

“A plumb line,” I replied.

Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line among my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.

⁹ “The high places of Isaac will be destroyed
    and the sanctuaries of Israel will be ruined;
    with my sword I will rise against the house of Jeroboam.”

We begin with two visions given to Amos of the total destruction that God is capable of bringing on His people for their sin but He won’t do it. Slow to anger, rich in mercy. The third vision is of a wall built straight with a plumb line. A plumb line acts as a measure for that which is straight and that which is crooked and needs restoring. The plumb line does not bring destruction but it shows up the difference. God is going to give His people a plumb line, His word, His Son. There can be no more excuses, no more doing as one pleases as part of God’s people. Jesus talks about the straight and narrow path and the wide crooked path. The straight path takes deliberate action and intentionality, we may not feel we travel so far, it may feel restrictive but ultimately it keeps us walking with God. He is not being vindictively restrictive. He knows what is best for us, He holds a bigger picture than we do.

Let’s walk by His plumb line. Let’s trust His ways and enjoy the freedom that plumb line ultimately gives us.

Father may each of us have receptive hearts and minds to Your plumb line and rejoice in it and be thankful that You have given us that and not the locusts and fire that can bring total destruction. In Jesus name we pray.

Amos: 6:8-14.

The Sovereign Lord has sworn by himself—the Lord God Almighty declares:

“I abhor the pride of Jacob
    and detest his fortresses;
I will deliver up the city
    and everything in it.”

⁹ If ten people are left in one house, they too will die. ¹⁰ And if the relative who comes to carry the bodies out of the house to burn them^[a] asks anyone who might be hiding there, “Is anyone else with you?” and he says, “No,” then he will go on to say, “Hush! We must not mention the name of the Lord.”

¹¹ For the Lord has given the command,
    and he will smash the great house into pieces
    and the small house into bits.

¹² Do horses run on the rocky crags?
    Does one plow the sea^[b] with oxen?
But you have turned justice into poison
    and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness—
¹³ you who rejoice in the conquest of Lo Debar^[c]
    and say, “Did we not take Karnaim^[d] by our own strength?”

¹⁴ For the Lord God Almighty declares,
    “I will stir up a nation against you, Israel,
that will oppress you all the way
    from Lebo Hamath to the valley of the Arabah.”

The Lord has no time for pride and self-grandeur/arrogance. His heart if we haven’t already worked out is for justice and righteousness. He has no time for those who claim they are His, that He is their God but give little thought and action for justice and righteousness. His words and actions, from One who is slow to anger, should be a wake up call for us all. Are we pursuing justice and righteousness? Are we inviting God into all of our lives? Who do we bank with, do we know the ethics of the bank our money is with? Do we think about the people making our clothes, of where the clothes we throw out end up? Do we consider the food chain in shopping both in terms of labourers and creation care? Holiday destinations? Jewellery? Chocolate? The cleaning products and creation care? The list goes on and on. We do not live in isolation, either to the people around us or those who are further away both in this country or on the other side of the globe?

Each of us have our own journey with God, have good works He had prepared for us. But we do not become individual brides of Christ, we who are in Christ are one united bride of Christ, one body, one spirit. It is overwhelming to change everything at once but as we pray through this passage maybe there is something in the list mentioned or something else that one could consider acting on. God knows we cannot change to world on our own, hence he calls us into relationship, into church. He does know our actions, intentions and what we are doing even if it seems to be making no difference or no one else knows. He knows the systems we are working in and with. One recent area for us was in working through the house buying process and mortgage applications. When we raised the question of ethics we were laughed at. It’s all about making money, best deal for the individual. There was no wider framework that allowed a wider circle on care, consideration to be considered.

Father from whom all mercy, love and compassion comes from, enlarge in us our hearts and minds for justice and mercy. In Jesus name we pray.

Amos 6:1-7.

Woe to you who are complacent in Zion,
    and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria,
you notable men of the foremost nation,
    to whom the people of Israel come!
² Go to Kalneh and look at it;
    go from there to great Hamath,
    and then go down to Gath in Philistia.
Are they better off than your two kingdoms?
    Is their land larger than yours?
³ You put off the day of disaster
    and bring near a reign of terror.
⁴ You lie on beds adorned with ivory
    and lounge on your couches.
You dine on choice lambs
    and fattened calves.
⁵ You strum away on your harps like David
    and improvise on musical instruments.
⁶ You drink wine by the bowlful
    and use the finest lotions,
    but you do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.
⁷ Therefore you will be among the first to go into exile;
    your feasting and lounging will end.

A very self-explanatory section of God’s word to Israel and Judah. We may not be lounging on couches, in fact we can sometimes be over busy. We may not be dining on the finest food; we may simply be trying to stretch our budget. Yet have we grown complacent in our faith, take it for granted that all will be well, pouring all our energy into programs rather than our walk with God and pursue the things that matter to Him, justice and mercy. Are our good works of God or of people? When studying 1 Cor 4 on the character of leadership and judging I was struck by how Amos spoke into that section around how we lead, what matters, where leadership needs to be rooted, what God is after in His people.

Father may we allow You to be the One who we follow fully, whose voice rings clearest to us, for the implications of following Him and the cost that will bring. In Jesus name we pray.

Amos 5:18-27.

Woe to you who long
    for the day of the Lord!
Why do you long for the day of the Lord?
    That day will be darkness, not light.
¹⁹ It will be as though a man fled from a lion
    only to meet a bear,
as though he entered his house
    and rested his hand on the wall
    only to have a snake bite him.
²⁰ Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light—
    pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?

²¹ “I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
    your assemblies are a stench to me.
²² Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
    I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
    I will have no regard for them.
²³ Away with the noise of your songs!
    I will not listen to the music of your harps.
²⁴ But let justice roll on like a river,
    righteousness like a never-failing stream!

²⁵ “Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
    forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?
²⁶ You have lifted up the shrine of your king,
    the pedestal of your idols,
    the star of your god^[a]—
    which you made for yourselves.
²⁷ Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,”
    says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty.

A challenge for each of us as we read these words when we get so caught up in projects and programs, in theologically (rather than political) correct debates,  opinions etc. When we whitewash the mess and brokenness of ours and others lives to keep ourselves theologically correct at the expense of mercy and justice. When we become the older brother in the prodigal son, the Pharisees. And we claim we are trying not to be the Pharisees with our theological correctness(TC). Our TC comes from our reduction of God, from thinking God needs us to be His spokesperson in today’s world, from allowing ourselves to have become of this world and allowing culture rather than God to have the greater influence in our lives. We look forward to the day of Christ’s return and the older one becomes the more one does so but God reminds His people right at the start of this section that it won’t be all joy and happiness. The day Christ returns brings with it God’s wrath but for those in Christ we will be saved. Will Christ say ‘I know you or not?’ That can be overwhelming and daunting and we can question ourselves. What we need to do when considering that question is more to challenge us in our actions, do our actions allow for justice, does God speak for Himself in our lives, are we willing to let a program go if God rather than His people call us to do so? Some of Amos, while unsettling, is easier to keep at an arm’s length because we do not directly see how we trample on the poor as we don’t see the supply chain of what we purchase etc, but these verses we cannot keep at arm’s length. We need to allow God’s Holy Spirit to work in us bringing to light that area that needs our attention, repentance and to receive God’s forgiveness and learn how to move forward in new ways.

Father, may Your name be hallowed. May Your Spirit work in us and renew in us a right spirit. May we be found in Christ in word, deed and thought. In Jesus name we pray.