Almost, Isn't Good Enough

SOMETHING  TO THINK ABOUT I just read the book of Amos in my through the Bible program.  Amos' ministry came just before that of the better known prophet, Isaiah.  His target audience was the court of king Jeroboam of Israel.  To put the book in a 21st Century setting, he was a rancher from Montana confronting the elites of Washington DC and Wall Street.  With in-your-face political incorrectness Amos challenged them to turn from their comfortable, self-reliant wickedness to the Lord.     Here is one of his lines that would be talked to death on cable news:  "Listen to me, you fat cows living in Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, and who are always calling to your husbands, "Bring us another drink!"  (Amos 4:1, NLT)    Amos reminds me of John the Baptist; neither of them were afraid to speak truth to power.  John the Baptist was imprisoned and beheaded.  One of King Jeroboam's toadies told Amos, "Go, you seer, flee away to the land of Judah and there eat bread and there do your prophesying!  But no longer prophesy at Bethel, for it is a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence."   (Amos 7:12-13).  I see significant parallels with my world today.  Americans are mostly comfortable, yet threats are all around.  If we don't like what we hear we just change the channel, or surf to a different site.  The problem is, though we can avoid hearing God's message, we can't avoid the reality that is behind it.  Amos makes that plain in Chapter 7. Like Isaiah, Amos often speaks in powerful pictures.  Here are a couple of snapshots: "Just as the shepherd snatches from the lion's mouth a couple of legs or a piece of an ear, so will the sons of Israel dwelling in Samaria be snatched away." "I overthrew you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze; yet you have not returned to Me," declares the LORD. (Amos 4:11) People arrogantly looked forward to the day of God's judgment assuming they would be rewarded, but Amos paints this scene: "As when a man flees from a lion and a bear meets him, or goes home, leans his hand against the wall and a snake bites him." (Amos 5:19) You can run, but you can't hide--not from the Lord.  I encourage you to turn to Him .  It's STTA.