8-27-13. Amos 4:1-13. PREPARE TO MEET YOUR GOD – my devotional

Amos 4:1-13                                                                            Kevin E, Jesmer

Key Verse: 4:12b                                                                     8-27-13

“…prepare to meet your God.”

Dear Lord Jesus Christ thank you for blessing our lives as we follow you. You add a quality to life that can not be matched in this world. Thank you for the blessing me to be Jason’s best man for his wedding. What a joy it was to spend time with his friends. May you bless this couple. Help Julie and I to live with the Mission Dei in our lives.  Please grant me one word of God through this passage. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1:  Cows of Bashan, Hear God’s Word! (1-5)

Verses 1-5, “Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, “Bring us some drinks!” ² The Sovereign Lord has sworn by his holiness: “The time will surely come when you will be taken away with hooks, the last of you with fishhooks. ³ You will each go straight out  through breaches in the wall, and you will be cast out toward Harmon, declares the Lord. ⁴ “Go to Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin yet more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three years. ⁵ Burn leavened bread as a thank offering  and brag about your freewill offerings—boast about them, you Israelites,  for this is what you love to do,” declares the Sovereign Lord.”

Israel’s wealthy women were called “Cows of Bashan”. What were the cows of Bashan like? Psalm 22:12 reads, “Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.” The bulls of Bashan were strong. How did they get so strong? “Bashan” refers to the rich pasture land east of the Jordan, where cattle were fed and became strong. The women of Israel, during Amos’ time, were pampered, sleek and well fed. They also liked to drink and ordered their husbands to serve them their drinks. They selfishly pushed their husbands to oppress the helpless in order to support their lavish lifestyles. It appears they contributed to the corruption of Israel. (I am sure that men with same mentality also were contributors to the problem.) Such people oppressed the poor, crushed the needy and created discord in the home all for the sake of satisfying their selfish desires.

The nobles of Samaria were compared to them here. The nobles were appealing to Jeroboam ll to provide them with luxurious banquets furnished with money that was robbed from the poor.

God was concerned that they were oppressing the poor and crushing the needy. God loves the poor and needy and his indignation over their oppression is the main theme in the book of Amos.

Unless they repented of their idol worship–especially of their worship of the idol Jeremiah had put in Bethel–they would be taken away as captives. Look at verse 2, “The Sovereign Lord has sworn by his holiness: “The time will surely come when you will be taken away with hooks, the last of you with fishhooks.^” This refers to the Assyrian King, who passed hooks through the lower lips of their captives and led them away to slavery. This would happen to Israel. They will be led forth, not through the gates of the city of Samaria, but through the broken walls, they would go quietly and in a straight line so as to increase the pain of their tortured lips. The people were helpless to not but be led away with no resistance. The luxury of Samaria would be reduced to slavery.

On a practical note, we need to be careful not to desire material possessions, nor the pleasure and conveniences of this world, so much that you are willing to oppress others and displease God to get them. It is ok to have money and material things. My policy has always been I should try to make enough money to take care of my family, serve others, contribute to my church and save some so that I won’t be a burden to others when I got old. But I should never get this kind of money at the expense of the poor. No way! No one else should suffer so that I could have a little more money, comfort and convenience. I pray that God may reveal to me how I have been exploiting others to maintain my lifestyle and repent of that and make it right.

In verses 4-5, Amos sarcastically invited the people to sin in Bethel and Gilgal where they worshipped idols instead of God. “⁴ “Go to Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin yet more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three years. ⁵ Burn leavened bread as a thank offering  and brag about your freewill offerings—boast about them, you Israelites,  for this is what you love to do,” declares the Sovereign Lord.” Bethel and Gilgal were spiritually significant places where the Lord God of Israel should be worshipped. Bethel was where God had renewed his covenant to Abraham and Jacob. (Gen 10:10-22) Gilgal was Israel’s first campground after entering the promised land. (Joshua 4:19). Here Joshua had renewed the covenant and the rite of circumcision and the people had celebrated the Passover. (Joshua 5:2-11) Saul was crowned the first king in Gilgal. (1 Sam 11:15) At this time, Bethel was the religious center of the Northern Kingdom, and Jeroboam placed an idol there to discourage the people from traveling to Jerusalem in the southern kingdom to worship. (1 Kings 12:26-29) Israel professed to worship God but they adored him under the similitude of the golden calf. In a sense they were desecrating this spot where so much work of God had gone on. He was making it an unholy place of idol worship and compromise.

People do similar things today when they profess to adore God but try to do so in so many manmade ways other than the cross of Calvary. But the truth is that God denounces all worship that is not based on the atoning work of Calvary. We can not make some religion that does not point to Jesus and his death and resurrection and take refuge in that idol. It is not right. We can also not take something with a holy and spiritual history and desecrate it with idols. The church can be like this. We need to keep the church as the Bride and the body of Christ.

Part 2: He Who Turns The Dawn Into Darkness (6-13)

Verses 6-13, “⁶I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord. ⁷ “I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another. One field had rain; another had none and dried up. ⁸ People staggered from town to town for water but did not get enough to drink, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord. ⁹ “Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, destroying them with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord. ¹⁰ “I sent plagues among you as I did to Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord. ¹¹ “I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord. ¹² “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel,and because I will do this to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God.” ¹³ He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind, and who reveals his thoughts to mankind, who turns dawn to darkness, and treads on the heights of the earth— the Lord God Almighty is his name.”

The Lord is the Creator of mountains and wind. He knows the thoughts of all people. He allowed his people empty stomachs so that they might repent and return to him. There were plagues; withheld rain; and locusts. Yet, by his grace he snatched a remnant of his people from the fire. Only the mercy of God would stop the destruction short of total. He did these things so that they would repent and return to him. No matter how God warned the people they still ignored him. God’s unwearied love, had not conquered their rebellion.

I am amazed at how much people refuse to repent and find God’s way of salvation. There is a principle. When you have dug yourself into a hole, there is a time when you need to stop digging and get some help to get out of that hole. How much suffering does a person have to taste before they humble themselves to discover that they have lost the way? We all need to stop and think and turn our restless hearts to Jesus Christ, the only one who has the power to bring us up out of whatever hole we have found ourselves in and set us on solid ground. I need to come to Jesus for his grace and his salvation. I need to take an assessment of my life and rededicate my heart to Jesus. I want to live for the Missio Dei, the mission of God for my life and my family. I need to focus on one region for my future missionary life, NW Ontario to the First Nations people. I can find rest in Jesus and place all of my hope and trust in him and elevate my hopes to the kingdom God. I can show God’s love to my family. I need to take stock and stop digging if I need to and dig where God wants me to dig.

But, amazingly these people in Samaria did not repent and so the prophet’s word to them is: “Prepare to meet your God, O Israel” (12b). They would have to meet God face to face in judgment. No longer would they ignore God. They would have to face the one they have rejected, the one they had refused to obey when he commanded them to care for the poor. They were told to make ready to meet God in judgment, turning to him with a changed heart, praying that he will forgive and withdraw his heavy hand.

One day each of us will meet God face to face to account for what we have done or refused to do. Are you prepared to meet him. 2 Corinthians 5:10 reads, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.”

This is a very stark reality. We will have to face God to answer for all we have done and failed to do. On my own, what could I say? I have sinned in so many ways. Without Jesus I would be one of those who cry out for the rocks to cover me because of my shame. But I have Jesus. He died for me. His holy blood pleads for me day and night. I stand forgiven because of the blood of Jesus. When I stand before the judgment seat of God, he will see the blood of Jesus on my heart and will say, “Welcome home son.” The blood of Jesus is the only way that I or anyone else will be able to pass through to the kingdom of heaven to dwell with Jesus forever. And this Way is open to anyone who has Gospel faith.

Prayer: Turn the hearts of our people to God. Bring a spirit of repentance to our nation that they may prepare to meet you with faith in Jesus.

One Word: Prepare to meet your God