Good morning!
Text: Amos 1-3; Ecclesiastes 6
The prophet Amos brings words of warning to God’s people whom He loves, writing to Israel about thirty years before the Assyrians conquer them. Consider his opening words:
“The Lord roars from Zionand utters his voice from Jerusalem;the pastures of the shepherds mourn,and the top of Carmel withers.” (Amos 1:2)
God wants to warn His people of the consequences of their sin. He wants them to repent and come back to him before He brings the needful judgment. He does so because of His great mercy. In Abraham Heschel’s seminal work, The Prophets, he describes the prophet’s experience as being one who lives among people who are deaf and blind, yet he stands before the “open door of the blast furnace of heaven.” The prophet sees and feels the holiness and power of God and sees the people in their sin. The people are oblivious, as if sleep-walking. And so, the prophet shouts. He uses over-the-top imagery. He writes in ALL CAPS!
It is not hard to imagine such a voice in our times. I even long for it, that some might “have ears to hear,” and there might be an awakening… soon, I pray.
in Him, Mike