February 17, 2025

Amos was relentless in getting God's message to the people of Israel. When God gives you a message to share, if you are disobedient and don't share it, He will use someone else, and they will get the credit and honor from God. He warned that their worship of idols and their poor treatment of the less fortunate would lead them into Assyrian captivity; he would put them in the land that only worships idols. His repeated message was to seek God and live, yet they were so obstinate that they didn't listen. Just like the conservatives of our day, the ones who knew the truth kept silent because they knew it wouldn't do any good to speak up, and they would receive punishment for being outspoken. Amos complained that they hated him, rebuked him in the gate, and abhorred him, who spoke the truth. 

Here is a truth that we all need to hear:

Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD isdarkness, and not light. As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? Amos 5:18-20

Many of us are guilty of desiring the Lord’s return, and yes, we are excited to leave this world for the kingdom of heaven. Still, the devastation that accompanies his return is going to be awful, and many people we know will be tormented by the mighty hand of God. Rather than desire Jesus’s return, we should be working to introduce him to the lost so they can escape the flames of hell.

But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Amos 5:24