Amos 7
COMMENTARY:
: 2 And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord GOD, forgive, I beseech you; by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. (5545 “forgive” [calach] means pardon, spare, to be indulgent towards, to stop blaming or taking an offense into account, or practice forbearance.)
DEVOTION: How are you at forgiving? If someone said or did something to you and they asked you to forgive them, would you? What would you do if they never asked you for forgiveness?
Here is Amos asking the LORD to forgive the children of Israel. They are not asking. A stranger from Judah is asking the LORD to forgive them because they are so small.
Yet the LORD forgave them and changed HIS attitude toward Israel regarding the locust. HE was still going to judge them but not with locust.
We are commanded to forgive others so the LORD can forgive us. In the disciples prayer or as others call it the “LORD’S prayer” we are to pray “…forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”
Are you a forgiving person? Is it easy to get bitter against someone who keeps hurting you?
Remember that each time we disobey our parents or others we are hurting our testimony which hurts the LORD.
CHALLENGE: Obedience is key to living our life that is pleasing to the LORD.
: 3 The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, says the LORD. (5162 “repented” [nacham] means relented, comfort, be moved to pity, have compassion, a change of heart regarding, turn from former attitude, to cease a particular course of action, or change of purpose.)
DEVOTION: In James 5: 16, we read “…. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” Throughout this chapter we find the LORD changing HIS course of action toward the children of Israel. Why? The reason was that the prophet prayed to the LORD to stop HIS judgment. The LORD agreed because of the prophet’s prayer or request.
One man can make a difference in a nation. One man close to the LORD can have the ear of the LORD. Jesus told the disciples that if they used HIS name in their prayer God the Father would grant them their request if it was according to the will of HIM.
What is according to the will of God? Sin is never according to HIS will. Repentance and a change of direction for believers or unbelievers is according to HIS will.
Amos was just a farmer who God had called to give HIS message to the people. Amos agreed to be God’s representative. He didn’t have any special education. He didn’t even really want the responsibility but he took it and God honored his prayers.
God will do the same for each one of us if we are using our gift/gifts that we received from the Holy Spirit to advance HIS church. If we are obedient to HIM, HE will answer our prayers according to HIS will.
CHALLENGE: Answered prayers are a blessing of obedience even when we pray for others.
: 5 Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech you; by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. (2308 “cease” [chadal] means stop, refrain, forbear, desist, abandon, give up, or end.)
DEVOTION: Have you ever had someone do something to you that you wished they would stop doing it? Have you ever told them to stop and they wouldn’t? It can get irritating.
Some people just seem to like to do things that we don’t like. We find that there are things that God doesn’t like us to do in our life and yet we keep on doing it.
The children of Israel kept worshiping false gods and God told them to stop and repent but they wouldn’t do it. So HE was going to judge them with fire. HE was going to devour the land.
Amos comes along as someone called of God to be a prophet and asks the LORD to STOP!!! Would you ever ask the LORD to stop doing something? It sounds like it would be wrong. However, this was a prophet talking with the LORD about stopping a judgment.
Remember that Abraham did it for Sodom and Gomorrah. He kept praying for the LORD not to destroy the cities. He started with fifty and got it down to ten people. The LORD said HE would not destroy the cities if there were ten righteous in the five cities. There were not even ten. In fact, only three escaped the city.
If we find ourselves in a situation where we need to pray for the LORD to spare someone would we ask the LORD not to take them? Would we ask the LORD to stop what HE was doing in their life?
CHALLENGE: God does answer the prayers of the righteous. We sometimes don’t understand the power that is available to us through prayer. It is great to see the LORD answer prayer.
: 15 And the LORD took me as I followed the flock, and the LORD said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel (3947 “took” [laqach] means to take, fetch, get, lay hold of, seize, acquire, or snatch.)
DEVOTION: Amos has three visions in this chapter regarding Israel. He is prophesying at Bethel, which means, “house of God.” They had turned it into a place where they worshipped a golden calf and other false gods.
In his visions he sees the LORD sending grasshoppers to destroy the land. But the LORD relents in sending this. Next he sees the LORD sending a fire but HE relents again. The third vision is of a plumb line used measure accurately, so that, a building can be built right. Israel was not measuring up to the standard the LORD has set for them.
Amos told of judgment coming. Amaziah was a false religious leader for the worship of false gods that Bethel. Remember that “religion” is manmade. Christianity comes from the LORD alone. He didn’t like what Amos was saying. He wrote a letter to the king telling of this problem. He told Amos to STOP prophesying and return to his own land of Judah.
Amos responded by saying that he was not there in his own power. He was sent of God. He was minding his own business of tending sheep and caring for fruit trees. He was satisfied where he was BUT the LORD sent him to Bethel. The LORD SEIZED him and told him to go and say what he was saying. He had no training in being a prophet. He wasn’t the son of a prophet. He was just doing what the LORD had told him to do.
We have had opportunity to defend our call to the ministry. Here is Amos defending his call to the ministry to a false prophet in Israel. Amaziah was a priest of Beth-el. There were many high places set up there. This false priest wanted Amos to stop giving the word of the LORD in that place. He wanted Amos to return to Judah and stop bothering them.
When the LORD tells HIS servants to do something and they don’t do it – HE will send someone else or make it so hard on HIS servant that he has to go. HE did that with Jonah.
Is the LORD calling us to go someplace we don’t want to go and share HIS word? Are we willing to go? Amos implied that he had no choice but to follow the LORD’S instructions.
He was minding his own business and the LORD called him to serve. Are we open to the LORD calling us to serve? The LORD uses all those who are yielded and available for service.
CHALLENGE: Remember to keep short accounts with the LORD. Remember to respond to the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
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