Amos 6 – 9 and Midway

Amos 6 - 9

Chapter 6 continues with God’s warnings to Israel, specifically those “who feel secure in Samaria,” that they will “be the first to be led away as captives.” Amos is shown a vision of a vast swarm of locusts over the land of Israel., but he ask the Lord to forgive Israel and the Lord relented from his plan. He then sees a vision of a great fire devouring the entire land. He prays to God to stop it and the Lord relents. The next vision is of a plumb line the Lord is using to test Israel. He declares he will no longer ignore all their sins and will bring the dynasty of King Jeroboam to a sudden end.

Amaziah, priest of Israel, sends a message to Jeroboam (Israel) that Amos is warning Jeroboam will be killed and the people sent into exile. Amos was then ordered to go back to Judah. Amos tells him the Lord was the one who sent him with the message and then he doubles down on the warning.

The Lord then shows Amos a vision of a basket of ripe fruit, a picture of Israel being ripe for punishment. He is determined to bring disaster upon them and not to help them. He says something that almost seems contradictory: “I, the Sovereign Lord, am watching this sinful nation of Israel. I will destroy it from the face of the earth. But I will never completely destroy the family of Israel.” Apparently, there is a distinction between the “nation” and the “family” of Israel.

We see in this passage that our God is truly a God of hope. He promises restoration, bringing exiled Israel back from distant lands where he will firmly plant them there “in their own land.” He promises also they will never again be uprooted from the land God gave them.

Tomorrow, we’ll be reading II Chronicles 27 and Isaiah 9 – 12.

Midway

In the middle of the night, while I was unable to sleep, I watched the 1976 movie Midway, starring Charlton Heston, Henry Fonda, Glenn Ford, James Coburn, Hal Holbrook, Robert Mitchum, Cliff Robertson, Toshiro Mifune, Robert Wagner, and even Pot Morita. This movie dealt with the Japanese plan to take the island of Midway about six months after their attack on Pearl Harbor.

While I watched the movie, I was reminded again of the men and women who have been killed and wounded to defend our freedoms. I was also reminded of how God has intervened to protect this country. It was a miracle that our fleet was able to defend Midway and destroy four of the Japanese navy’s aircraft carriers.

I hope that God has not withdrawn His protection of this great nation. I think we are being warned in many ways to turn back to Him. How could God, whose first directive to Adam and Eve was “Be fruitful and multiply…” not be unhappy with the 50 MILLION babies that have been brutally aborted since the Roe v. Wade decision. He constantly warned the Israelites not to practice child sacrifice as the nations around them did. If abortion isn’t child sacrifice, what is it?

In our lesson in Amos today, we saw that Amos had a vision of a great fire, but God relented of that plan. Those fires out west and the problems with this year’s corn crop and other crops, among other things, may be warnings from a righteous God, that it is time to turn back to Him

Remember II Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.”

Until next time…