Prepare to meet your God
Amos is speaking out with God’s message at a time when society in Israel was very prosperous and very religious. A time when no one was interested in what he had to say. Things were going just fine.
Amos denounces society. He denounces the pampered women who exploit others and expect them to do their bidding. He calls them cows!
Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria,
you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy
and say to your husbands, ‘Bring us some drinks!’ Amos 4:1
He them has a go at the wealthy undertaking their pilgrimages and their sacrifices, their tithes, their freewill offerings. They’re so proud of all that they’re doing and yet their hearts are not in the right place. They boast about keeping all their traditions alive and yet they carry on sinning without a second thought.
It’s not like God hasn’t tried to warn them before.
He brought famine upon them.
Yet you have not returned to me.
He brought drought upon them.
Yet you have not returned to me.
He brought blight and mildew and locust to destroy their harvests.
Yet you have not returned to me.
He sent plagues that killed young man and horses.
Yet you have not returned to me.
He overthrew cities.
Yet you have not returned to me.
Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel,
and because I will do this to you, Israel,
prepare to meet your God.’
He who forms the mountains,
who creates the wind,
and who reveals his thoughts to mankind,
who turns dawn to darkness,
and treads on the heights of the earth –
the Lord God Almighty is his name. Amos 4:12-13
Watch this space.
Never forget who God really is.
Look at the mountains. Crane your neck and strain your eyes and try to make out the summit. Consider the vastness, the majesty, the immense strength. God formed the mountains.
Prepare to meet your God.
Never forget who God really is.
Feel the wind on your face. That soft breeze that comes from nowhere to gently caress your cheek. Then consider the strongest of winds that uproots trees and lifts cows off their feet causing untold devastation to all in its path. God creates the wind.
Prepare to meet your God.
Never forget who God really is.
Reflect on those flashes of insight that rock your world. Torrents of creativity rushing through you. The right words at the right time. That intuitive sense that cannot be explained. That love or joy or peace that transcends understanding. That assurance that all will be well. That inner nudge that challenges you to do better next time. That’s God revealing His thoughts to you and to me. God turns darkness to dawn and day to darkness. Every single day.
Prepare to meet your God.
Never forget who God really is.
Stop a moment and look out of the window. Wait. Look at the the horizon barely visible in the darkness. That place where sky meets land which is lighter than everywhere else. Gaining in brightness. Wait until the tip of the sun peeps over the edge of the darkness. A new day is dawning. A glorious new day.
Prepare to meet your God.
Never forget who God really is.
Wherever you go, God is there. Wherever your journey takes you, God has been there before. There is nowhere you can go to escape the presence of God. He is everywhere. Living in every living thing. Breathing His life into rivers and daffodils and the bats hanging out in underground caves. God has walked all the paths of the earth.
Prepare to meet your God.
Never forget who God really is.
He is the Lord God Almighty. There is only one.There has only ever been one. He is the one true God. The Lord God Almighty is His name.
Prepare to meet your God.
Not sometime in the future.
Not when you die.
But now. Right now.
Prepare to meet your God today.
