Amos 7:1-17

It is very easy for us to be misunderstood.  We may be doing the very best thing possible for someone but they may still misinterpret it as being harmful to them.  Amos was called to be a prophet of the Lord.  He did not choose to be a prophet and had been happy to be a farmer but when God calls you to do something you do it with all of your heart no matter how men may misinterpret our actions.  The desire of Amos’s heart was to serve the people by warning them of God’s impending judgment.  This is not a popular message but it is a very important message as the hard truth is always more helpful than easy lies. 

AMOS REQUESTS FOR GOD TO HAVE MERCY ON THE NATION: God revels to Amos three different ways that He plans to judge the nation of Israel.  First He shows Amos a plague of locust that will come and devour the land.  Amos knows that this will bring great financial burden to the people and cause starvation to the poorest people of the nation so He prays for God to relent and God answers Amos’s prayer.  Next God shows Amos how He is planning to judge the nation with fire.  Once again Amos pleads with God not to send a fire that would destroy both the just and the unjust and God answers Amos’s prayer.  Finally God reveals that He will judge Israel with a plumb line that is designed to reveal those who are just and unjust.  This is what Amos was requesting of the Lord and became the theme of his message for the people to repent so they would not fail the test of the plumb line.  He was interceding for the people before the Lord and interceding for the Lord before the people.  This is what all of us are called to do through our prayers and our preaching. 


THE NATION REQUESTS FOR AMOS TO SERVE GOD ELSEWHERE: Despite Amos’s valiant efforts on behalf of the people in praying for God to be merciful; they still did not want to hear God’s message.  The king sends his messenger to tell Amos to leave the country and go to Judah where people cared about what God had to say.  They refused to listen to Amos and threatened to have him exiled.  The nation refused to believe that God would judge them so they accused Amos of wanting evil for the people.  Amos refused to back down from his message and refuses to leave the land to which he was called to minister.  He reminds the leaders that he was a simple farmer when God called him to be a prophet.  His messages were not made up or designed to hurt the people.  He was desperately trying to help the people turn from their wicked ways so they could avoid God’s wrath.  This is the task of every one of us as we seek to evangelize a world that does not know the Lord.  Our message may not be popular but we have been called to deliver it no matter how unpopular it may be.

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