Lessons from Amos

I read the book of Amos tonight. Me and Ruth were looking at a couple verses in Chapter 7 (they're down there for you to read later) and I just wanted to read the whole thing because I hadn't read it in a while and, quite frankly, didn't remember much of it except something about a plumb line and Israel getting destroyed. Here's the basics:
God sent warnings to Israel again and again. Drought, famine, locusts, war, all in an effort to have Israel turn back to God, but they refused. So God was going to bring major judgment on them. All through this book of judgment God was crying, "Return to me, Israel's and I'll forgive everything! "Do what is good and run from evil--that you may live!"
There's a lot of good stuff in the book of Amos, one set of verses that really struck me were verses 21-25 in chapter 5:

" 21"I hate all your show and pretense--the hypocrisy of your religious festivals and solemn assemblies. 22I will not accept your burnt offerings and grain offerings. I won't even notice all your choice peace offerings. 23Away with your hymns of praise! They are only noise to my ears. I will not listen to your music, no matter how lovely it is. 24Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, a river of righteous living that will never run dry. 25"Was it to me you were bringing sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, Israel? "

I wonder how many times God thinks that of us. I'm sure God rolls his eyes over what goes on in church services all across America.
"A river of righteous living". Is that what describes me? Hmmm. I tend to doubt it. What if I really concentrated on that rather than all the "stuff" I do. How much more fulfilled would I be?
I think what I like most about Amos was he was just an ordinary person. He just followed God's wil for his life and did extraordinary things. Isn't that what we all want? He was simply following God with the simple life he had and God decided that since he was following Him in the small things, Amos could follow Him in the big things too. Read in chapter 7 about what Amos was doing before he was a prophet:

10But when Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, heard what Amos was saying, he rushed a message to King Jeroboam: "Amos is hatching a plot against you right here on your very doorstep! What he is saying is intolerable. It will lead to rebellion all across the land. 11He is saying, `Jeroboam will soon be killed and the people of Israel will be sent away into exile.' "
12Then Amaziah sent orders to Amos: "Get out of here, you seer! Go on back to the land of Judah and do your preaching there! 13Don't bother us here in Bethel with your prophecies, especially not here where the royal sanctuary is!"
14But Amos replied, "I'm not one of your professional prophets. I certainly never trained to be one. I'm just a shepherd, and I take care of fig trees. 15But the LORD called me away from my flock and told me, `Go and prophesy to my people in Israel.'
16"Now then, listen to this message from the LORD!"

Cool. Amos was a shepherd. And he watered fig trees. Not exactly a "world-changing" "exciting" job. Half of his friends he grew up with were shepherds too. And even with his side-job of watering trees, I'm sure he barely paid the bills. But one day, God told Amos, "Hey, go tell my people all they're doing wrong and if they don't listen, I'm going to send nations to take them over and they'll be destroyed" So Amos did. And he was very unpopular. Things were going pretty well in Israel. But they were terribly corrupt. People were greedy, worshipping idols, taking advantage of each other, ignoring God's laws. They had corrupt leadership, were oppressing the poor and had largely neglected God. And God was sending major judgment.
While I was reading, I realized something. You know, I read a lot in the Old Testament and people are always dying, and God's sending judgment cuz they're not obeying him, and it just seems like a viscous cycle over and over. But in the last chapter, God really explains why he sends judgment. It's not just to be mean.

11"The time is surely coming," says the Sovereign LORD, "when I will send a famine on the land--not a famine of bread or water but of hearing the words of the LORD. 12People will stagger everywhere from sea to sea, searching for the word of the LORD, running here and going there, but they will not find it. 13Beautiful girls and fine young men will grow faint and weary, thirsting for the LORD's word. "

God really, really, really wants us to long for him. Not just passively sit in the knowledge that he died for you, blah, blah, blah. Imagine if people fainted because they needed to read the Bible so bad. Sounds crazy, huh? But there really are people in the world, people I read about in other countries in places like Vietnam and China who die every day because they would rather die having read God's word than live without it. God doesn't send judgment because he's sick of you or is tired of you or doesn't feel like forgiving you. He sent judgment on Israel because they wouldn't listen to anything else. There was no other way for God to get their attention. Israel knew about God. They'd all heard the stories of their ancestors crossing the Red Sea and the plauges on Egypt and Joshua and Jericho and David and Goliath and every other Old Testament story me and you have heard in Sunday school. But like a lot of us, the Israelites wanted to do things their own way and follow the nations around them. country peer pressure, I suppose. So, read the book of Amos if you get a chance. I think it's one a lot of us skip or skim over. But it's really good. Good night everyone! Arrivederci!