I’m just a nobody, trying to tell everybody, about somebody, who can save anybody.
Like Amos I’m just a simple person crying out, warning people of the impending danger. ⚠️
Watch out! Watch out!
Danger ahead!
You’re heading the wrong way!
The bridge is out!
Take this turn here and get on the narrow path, the path over the scarred back of Jesus, the path that runs through His blood,
He’s the only way, friends.
Come to Him and be saved.
Oh, Heavenly Father, You made a way back to You, by the blood of Your only Son, Jesus Christ, who laid down His life for us. Make us Your messengers, Your ambassadors, Your heralds of good news. Let us not grow weary and weak. Strengthen us to stand at the crossroads and cry out again and again, “THIS IS THE WAY! COME THIS WAY!” By the power of Christ in us and for the glory of His Name we pray, Amen.
“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I will send a famine on the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.”
Amos 8:11 ESV
Would I rather worship or wander through Wally World?
Would I rather scroll through the truth of the Word or the foolishness of Facebook?
Would I rather skip my daily dose of carbs or the daily bread of the Lord’s presence?
Would I rather sit in a pew or sit on a couch?
Would I rather be in the front row of a church or the front row of a concert?
Would I rather listen to the correction of a wise counselor or the consolation of a foolish friend?
Would I rather miss a dinner date with my BFF or a breakfast date with my Heavenly Father?
Would I rather miss my morning cup of java or my morning cup of living water?
Would I rather have an empty belly or an empty mind?
“Sabbath days and sabbath work are a burden to carnal hearts, that are always afraid of doing too much for God and eternity.
Can we spend our time better than in communication with God?
And how much time do we spend pleasantly with the world? Will not the sabbath be gone before we have done the work of it and reaped the gains of it? Why then should we be in such haste to part with it?
They were fond of market-days: they longed to be selling corn and setting forth wheat. When they were employed in religious services they were thinking of their marketings …
Those are strangers to God, and enemies to themselves, that love market days better than sabbath days, that would rather be selling corn than worshipping God.”
Matthew Henry, Commentary on Amos 8
Heavenly Father, Align our hearts with Yours. Make us love what You love. Break our hearts for what breaks Yours. Give us a holy hunger. Make us hunger for what is healthy and right, what is pure and true. Make us sick over what makes You sick. Give us discernment to recognize what is truly lovely and what is a joy stealer. Help us spot the counterfeits, the deceptions, those things that masquerade as beautiful and give us hearts that hunger and thirst for righteousness for Your Name’s sake. In the Name of Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, the One who meets our every need, the well that never runs dry, the unending source of living water and the eternal bread of Your living presence, we pray. Amen.
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.’
Amos 7:14-15 ESV
God chose fishermen like Peter, Andrew, James, and John. God chose shepherds like David, Moses, and Amos. God chose tax collectors like Matthew and Zacchaeus.
It’s not what you do from 8 to 5 Monday through Friday, or what family you were born into, that matters. It doesn’t matter how educated you are, or how much money is in your bank account. God calls and chooses whom He will according to His own plan and purpose.
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.
But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
1 Corinthians 1:26-29 ESV
God chose Paul, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a prosecutor of Christians, to write these words,
“[God] saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit”
Titus 3:5 ESV
And to the church at Ephesus,
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:10 ESV
Heavenly Father, You didn’t choose me because I was rich or powerful or good. I wasn’t. I was a simple college student, a blasphemer and opponent of the gospel. I was Your enemy, slandering You and hurling insults at Your children, yet You plucked me out of the miry clay and planted my feet on the rock. You called me in spite of myself. Thank You. Thank You. Father, please, help me to love and pursue others like You loved and pursued me. Help me to love my neighbor as myself, loving them even while they’re drowning in sin. For the glory of Your Name and the growth of Your kingdom, in the name of Jesus Christ my Savior and Lord, Amen.
For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live;”
Amos 5:4 ESV
Heavenly Father, I lift up the house of Israel to You. I pray that You would remove the veil from their eyes that they would recognize Messiah Jesus who came once to save and who is coming again to judge. Oh, Father, open their ears that they would hear clearly the gospel of peace. Soften their hearts that the seeds of truth would fall deep and take root. Use Your rod to chasten and reprove that they would return quickly to Your open arms. Please, Father, send out laborers into the harvest in Jerusalem and all over Israel and the Middle East. We want to see the olive tree bear fruit again for Your kingdom. In the Name of Jesus Christ, the Only Way to You, the Only Savior of the world, we pray. Amen.
As a mom, I want my discipline to bring my children to repentance. I want them to grieve their sin, see their error, and turn around.
But, all too often, that’s not the case. In fact, my discipline can end up making them more hard-hearted and rebellious. My words of gentle correction, or the natural consequences of their actions, can end up causing them to blame everyone but themselves.
Does that mean I’m wrong to discipline them?
Does that mean I should look the other way as they run headlong away from what is right?
My heart grieves with the Lord as He says five times in Amos 4, “yet you did not return to me.” He had withheld rain. He had struck their gardens with blights and locusts. He had even brought death upon some of their young men, yet they did not return to Him.
It reminds me of a line from one of Charles Spurgeon’s sermons.
The same sun which melts wax hardens clay. And the same Gospel which melts some persons to repentance hardens others in their sins.
C.H. Spurgeon
The Lord disciplines those He loves. That discipline will harden some and convict others. I wonder, which am I? Am I listening when the Lord is trying to get my attention? Am I willing to correct my course when the Lord is putting road blocks in my way?
How about you? How have you handled the Lord’s rod of correction? Where do you need to do an about-face and return to Him, your Creator?
Heavenly Father, We are indeed silly sheep who often go astray and wander into dangerous places. Forgive us, Father, for our foolishness, our rebellion, and our disobedience. Thank You for Your loving hand that seeks to bring Your children back into the fold. Your rod and Your staff are our comfort. Help us to listen to Your voice of corrections and change course, to RETURN to YOU, the lover of our souls. In the Name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.
Sometimes it seems that professing Christians think they are immune from the consequences of their sin. Indeed Jesus has paid the price for our sin by His death on the cross, but we still must endure God’s discipline for our good.
In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
Hebrews 12:4-8 ESV
All too many American children are being left without discipline, and our nation is reaping the consequences of it.
God disciplined the Israelites and He disciplines Christians. Not because He hates us, but because He loves us.
Oh, Heavenly Father, what a blessing it is to call You, Father. What an honor to be Your daughter. Help me to endure Your discipline with humility and gratitude and trust, fully believing that You are working to conform me into the image of Your Son. You are good. Always. Help me to learn what you’re teaching me. In the Name of Jesus Christ, my Savior and Lord I pray. Amen.
I’ve never studied Amos for myself, though my pastor did spend several weeks teaching through it in August 2019. In fact he spent about a year teaching through all the minor prophets verse by verse. If you’re like me and need a quick overview of the Book of Amos, you might want to read Got Questions’s post here.
Today I took some time to learn a little about the locations of Amos 1: Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, and Edom. And that got me thinking about how God pronounced these judgments on the whole city-state, not merely on individuals or even the king.
So I started thinking about what kind of judgment God would have on my city, state, and nation. We have forsaken His Word. We have forgotten His commands. We have aborted babies in the name of choice. We have allowed criminals to run free while we have forbidden prayer and the Bible from our schools. We have set aside a month to celebrate men who pretend to be women and women who pretend to be men. We have bowed down to idols of all kinds: money, Mother Earth, and mortal men. We have hidden the gospel and turned a blind eye to our neighbor in need.
Heavenly Father, Forgive us, Lord. Forgive us. Please, Father, shed Your grace on us. We need You. Turn our nation back to You. Turn the hearts of fathers back to their children. Turn the hearts of mothers back to their homes. Turn us back to Your Word. For Your glory and honor I pray. Amen.
Teach What is Good 