“Listen to this message that the Lord has spoken,” the prophet Amos recorded for whosoever has ears to hear and eyes to see, “against you, O people of Israel—against the entire family I rescued from Egypt:
“Can two people walk together
without agreeing on the direction?
Does a lion ever roar in a thicket
without first finding a victim?
Does a young lion growl in its den
without first catching its prey?
Does a bird ever get caught in a trap
that has no bait?
Does a trap spring shut
when there’s nothing to catch?
When the ram’s horn blows a warning,
shouldn’t the people be alarmed?
Does disaster come to a city
unless the Lord has planned it?” Amos 3:3-6.
“That’s it,” many people shout in this present time, I refuse to believe in a God who is evil!”
Yet, Amos the prophet continues, Indeed, the Sovereign Lord never does anything
until he reveals his plans to his servants the prophets. Amos 3:7.
The lion has roared—
so who isn’t frightened?
The Sovereign Lord has spoken—
so who can refuse to proclaim his message?
Announce this to the leaders of Philistia
and to the great ones of Egypt:
“Take your seats now on the hills around Samaria,
and witness the chaos and oppression in Israel.
My people have forgotten how to do right,”
says the Lord.
“Their fortresses are filled with wealth
taken by theft and violence.
Therefore,” says the Sovereign Lord,
“an enemy is coming! Amos 3:8-11.
Paul the apostle recorded in Romans 9:7-16 the common belief that God’s not fair. Are we curious to hear the Scriptures on this point?
Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too.
This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children.For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins. But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes;
he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.” In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.”
Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! For God said to Moses,“I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.”So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.
In our human cry for fairness, we are tempted to believe God is unfair. But Paul continues in Romans 9:18-23.
So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.
Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?” No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?”
When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into?
In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory.
“God, give us hunger for the Word of God,” a daily prayer on our lips. For such a time as this, we must thirst for the Living Waters of God’s Word, continually praying for wisdom and understanding in His ways:
Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea,“Those who were not my people, I will now call my people. And I will love those whom I did not love before.”
And,“Then, at the place where they were told,‘You are not my people,’there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”
And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out,“Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be saved. Romans 9: 25-27.
The LORD is a gracious God, compassionate, slow to anger the Bible proclaims. We must turn from the words of man and hear the testimonies of God:
For the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth quickly and with finality.”
And Isaiah said the same thing in another place:“If the Lord of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of our children, we would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah.”
What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place.
But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded.
Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him.
They stumbled over the great rock in their path. Romans 9:28-32.
Jesus is the rock of stumbling: “He is the stone that makes people stumble, the rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they do not obey God’s word, and so they meet the fate that was planned for them. 1 Peter 2:8.
We have choice. Will we choose Jesus?
Amos 4, consider. This is the Word of the Lord, NLT. Is it time to turn and trust in the Lord?
Listen to me, you fat cows
living in Samaria,
you women who oppress the poor
and crush the needy,
and who are always calling to your husbands,
“Bring us another drink!”
The Sovereign Lord has sworn this by his holiness:
“The time will come when you will be led away
with hooks in your noses. Amos 4:1,2. (This is how they treated their enemies).
Every last one of you will be dragged away
like a fish on a hook!
You will be led out through the ruins of the wall;
you will be thrown from your fortresses,[b]”
says the Lord.
“Go ahead and offer sacrifices to the idols at Bethel.
Keep on disobeying at Gilgal.
Offer sacrifices each morning,
and bring your tithes every three days.
Present your bread made with yeast
as an offering of thanksgiving.
Then give your extra voluntary offerings
so you can brag about it everywhere!
This is the kind of thing you Israelites love to do,”
says the Sovereign Lord.
“I brought hunger to every city
and famine to every town.
But still you would not return to me,”
says the Lord.
“I kept the rain from falling
when your crops needed it the most.
I sent rain on one town
but withheld it from another.
Rain fell on one field,
while another field withered away.
People staggered from town to town looking for water,
but there was never enough.
But still you would not return to me,”
says the Lord.
“I struck your farms and vineyards with blight and mildew.
Locusts devoured all your fig and olive trees.
But still you would not return to me,”
says the Lord.
“I sent plagues on you
like the plagues I sent on Egypt long ago.
I killed your young men in war
and led all your horses away.
The stench of death filled the air!
But still you would not return to me,”
says the Lord.
“I destroyed some of your cities,
as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
Those of you who survived
were like charred sticks pulled from a fire.
But still you would not return to me,”
says the Lord.
“Therefore, I will bring upon you all the disasters I have announced.
Prepare to meet your God in judgment, you people of Israel!”
For the Lord is the one who shaped the mountains,
stirs up the winds, and reveals his thoughts to mankind.
He turns the light of dawn into darkness
and treads on the heights of the earth.
The Lord God of Heaven’s Armies is his name!
Can we hear the word “return?” Do we choose today in humility to return, to “repent” for the kingdom of heaven,
is.
at.
hand.
God is gracious to receive those who chose to believe in the Son He graciously gave to pay our debt in full on the cross at Calvary.
“Today, today . . . ” the Good Shepherd calls His sheep. Do we turn to Him? The choice is ours.