The prophet Amos:

A shepherd called by God

by R. Douglass Mahaffey

            A man who lived in a time of national optimism in Israel, Amos, a shepherd, was called by God to pronounce judgement by denouncing Israel’s luxurious living, idolatry and moral depravity. Amos urged the people of Israel to repent from their ways before the judgement of God come upon them.

            Amos foretold the dispersement of the Israelites, but also points to a day when God would regather them in the land of their forefathers. He lived in the northern kingdom of Israel ruled by King Jeroboam II, that was political as well as material, as the northern kingdom rivalled in the age of Solomon and David.

            Amos warns Israel that God will break the bar of Damascus and cut off the inhabitants from the plane of Aven, and of Eden, Syria and Kir. He also warned that God would send fire on the wall of Gaza, which the Palestinians and Israel still fight over to this very day. God said that He would devour the palaces there.

            God also said through Amos that he would send fire on the wall of Tyrus and Teman which will devour the palaces there as well. The text mentions three transgressions that the people are guilty of; luxurious living, idolatry and moral depravity, all sins of the spirit, moreso than flesh. The sins of the spirit are much harder to gain control of, and are harder to find deliverance from, because as the scripture says, the flesh is weak.

            But if the Holy Spirit is dwelling in a person, then they have had their eyes opened, and their hearts have once received salvation from repentance. But then turned back to their old ways. Christians back-sliding is nothing new, and it is overcomable. It takes the death of one’s pride, and the moment of realization that their sin offends and divides them from God if they go back to finding comfort in their sin.

            That is one point of life where the fruit of the spirit becomes spoiled and a Christian finds it hard to come back from, to true repentance and rededication. There, one finds God waiting; waiting to rebuild a relationship and a temple worthy of giving praise and worship towards God. That is the place that God delivered Israel to when he regathered them to the land of their forefathers. He delivered them to a mountain top so to speak, that was high atop a valley that was so low, that the people of Israel had only one place to look, and that was up; toward heaven. There, they foud reconcilliation with God.

            Sound familiar? There is not a Christian alive today that doesn’t know what that valley feels like. It was that valley that God found us in when He called us to be His children.

R. Douglass Mahaffey – Founder and Publisher of The Wise Conservative.