Daily Devotions

Amos 1:1-5 The words of Amos, who was among the herdman of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. 2 And he said, The Lord will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither. 3 Thus saith the Lord; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: 4 But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Ben-hadad. 5 I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the Lord.

Amos came on the scene two years before a great earthquake. (Verse 1) This seems just to be marking the time of Amos but it is much more than that. Amos is a prophetic book, written before the earthquake, not after. Verse one does not record the history of Amos but begins the prophecy of Amos. There was an earthquake come, a destructive action coming upon the land. But why? We find that “For three transgressions … and for four”. Over and over again we find that phrase in the early part of the book of Amos, God’s patience had run out with Israel, God’s longsuffering had reached its limit, a time of judgment was coming. The God of heaven was going to be mocked no m ore, judgment, His judgment was coming upon Israel, and there was going to be no turning back on the part of God, not if the people did not listen to the voice of Amos. I wonder how close we are as a people, as a nation, and as the church, to the point when God’s patience is going to run out, to the place when God’s longsuffering had reached its limit? And as we reach that point will any man stand and shout a warning as Amos did? For this week I want to look at the prophet Amos, and at a last opportunity for Israel to repent before the judgment.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 1st, 2013 at 5:44 am and is filed under Daily Devotions. You can skip to the end and leave a response.