(REFLECTIONS ON Amos 4:1-13)

No matter what the Lord did to Israel they would not return to Him. That is the clear theme from today’s Scripture. Five times we read, “Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the Lord. Even when Israel was carried away from the land of their ancestors, the land where the name of the Lord was with them, the Promised Land, they would not return to Him.

Even when they were carried away with meat hooks, like a slab of raw meat, skinned and cut up, and with fish hooks like a fish flopping around in search for water, they would not return to the Lord.

If that image is not powerful, grotesque, or humiliating enough, what comes next should strike the fear of God in them. For God said,

“Prepare to meet your God, O Israel.” 

Or in modern terms, as we see in many gangster movies, “Prepare to meet your maker!”

Israel did not listen to the warning signs, and in the end it would no longer be a warning they should be worried about, but God Himself. 

Brothers and sisters, do we see the warning signs? Yes, we say we have Jesus Christ, but do we tread on the cross that Christ was hung on to die for our sins? Is our shoe print on the face of our Savior?

Jesus said that we are deny ourselves and daily pick up our cross to follow Him. Do we see the cross that we are to pick up and carry or just stare at it with a repulsive look rather than actually carrying it up? 

Are we too proud and dignified to be seen picking up our cross because it symbolizes shameful death for evil-doers? Will we not heed the warning signs as Israel did? Will we wait until it isn’t the warning signs that we need to face, but God Himself? 

Are we prepared to meet God? Have we received Christ and allowed His Spirit to expose our sin and bring us to repentance, or are we too clean and dignified to get our knees dirty and bow down even when the Holy Spirit is convicting us to bow down before our Lord?

“Prepare to meet your God,” can sound terrifying and intimidating, eliciting fear, but it can also be a joyful invitation for us if we are willing to kneel before the cross of Christ, pick up our cross daily, and meet God through Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit. 

Let us not wait until the warnings are over, but return to Him today, and every day.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Amos 4