Are you READY?

In our Thursday night Men’s Bible Study in Edgewood we have been focusing on the little letter of Amos in the Old Testament. The blunt and outspoken Amos was not a professional prophet. He was a sheep herder and a horticulturist who took care of sycamore trees. Yet, while he was tending the sheep the Lord spoke to him to go prophesy to the people of the northern kingdom, Israel.

The lifestyles of the people of Israel were a stench unto God. They had not one leader that was good or obeyed the Lord God throughout their entire history. They achieved their prosperity at the expense of others. The sold the righteous for silver and the poor for a pair of shoes. They trampled impoverished people into the dust. A man and his father would share the same girl in bed and thus profane God’s name. Nothing religious was considered sacred. They lived in mansions and had both summer and winter homes. They reclined in beds of ivory and sang their own special music. They rubbed their soft bodies with special cosmetic preparations. The feasted on gourmet foods, and drank wine from goblets. But not once did they consider God or his laws. And because of this the judgment of God was about to fall upon them.

Amos 3:7 says that God will always give a warning before judgment, “surely the sovereign Lord will do nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.” Not only did God send Amos warning the people of Israel of the judgments to come, He also sent a series of “natural disasters” to sound the alarm and tries to get the attention of the Israelites. He gave them drought, famine, pestilence, and plagues. He overthrew some of their cities like Sodom and Gomorrah. Yet, they refused to repent and change their ways. They stared down at the dust of the drought and said “tough luck” when they should have looked to heaven and seen the “tough love” of God. As always, those who WILL NOT see are worse than those who cannot see. Their problems were not to be compared with the problems they were about to have. SO, Amos cried out with OUR BIBLE BOOST for today. It’s found in Amos 4:12, “prepare to meet your God, O Israel.”

The message of Amos is tailored made for you and me and for America. You know we are prepared for just about everything but meeting God. We prepare for school, graduation, work, vacations, retirement, and even our funerals and burials. But even though we have made all these preparations when have not prepared to heed the call of Amos, “prepare to meet your God”. The poet puts it this way:

When the great plants of our cities
Have turned out their last finished work.
When the merchants have sold their last yard of silk
And dismissed their last hard clerk
When the banks have raked in their last dollar
And paid out their last dividend
When the judge of the earth calls…closed for the night.
And asks for the balance…WHAT THEN!

Remember, Amos 4:12, "Prepare to meet your God..."
Are you ready?

I am praying for you and your family,