Hardened against the Lord. Amos 9.7-10
Amos 9 (4)
Pray Psalm 7.9-11.
Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,
But establish the just;
For the righteous God tests the hearts and minds.
My defense is of God,
Who saves the upright in heart.
God is a just judge,
And God is angry with the wicked every day.
Sing Psalm 7.9-11.
(Finlandia: Be Still, My Soul)
Bring to an end the evil of the wicked,
but let Your righteous ones established be.
You are my shield, my soul will not be stricken;
test heart and mind, my true Defender be.
You are a righteous Judge in every way,
angry at wicked people every day.
Read and meditate on Amos 9.1-10; meditate on verses 7-10.
Preparation
1. What words did God use to describe Israel?
2. What is all that meant to suggest?
Meditation
Same song, next verse: Israel was a wholly sinful people, inveterately sinful, unchangeable in their wickedness, ungrateful for the grace God had shown them, and therefore bound to receive the consequence of their choices.
Israel was like Ethiopia (v. 7), by which God may have intended what He later spoke through Jeremiah (Jer. 13.23): As the Ethiopian cannot change the color of his skin, the people of Israel could not forsake their sinful ways. Their willingness to sin, exercised unrelentingly, had hardened their souls to such an extent that choosing not to sin had ceased to be an option. They had forgotten that God had delivered them from Egypt and settled them in the land of promise (v. 7). It’s not a good idea to forget the grace and generosity of God in times past.
Israel failed to look to God, but never ceased looking upon their sinful ways (v. 8). And He would give them what they had chosen: utter destruction as a people associated with His Name and covenant. God would put Israel through the sifter, to see if any good remained. If even the smallest bit of goodness—small as a grain of wheat—should remain, it would be preserved (v. 9). But that remnant had already escaped to Judah. All Israel would fail in the sifting and all the inveterately sinful people of that land would die by the sword (which includes dying in captivity).
And yet they continued to say, “Not us, not here, not now”, daring God with their hubris and scorn. But calamity would overtake them nonetheless.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Trying, with all my might, not to sound like a prudish schoolmarm, I will now list Solomon’s take on those who blatantly continue to sin with adulterous women and in unjust living—thinking for all the world, that they are unseen by God (e.g., “The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us”, Amos 9.10).
“He did not know it would cost his life” (Prov. 7.23).
“But he does not know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of hell” (Prov. 9.18).
“Her ways are unstable; you do not know them” (Prov. 5.6).
“For her house leads down to death, and her paths to the dead; none who go to her return,
nor do they regain the paths of life” (Prov. 2.18, 19).
“Her house is the way to hell, descending to the chambers of death” (Prov. 7.27).
“Her feet go down to death, her steps lay hold of hell” (Prov. 5.5).
Not a pretty picture; but the father of lies (Jn. 8.44) cries, “Enjoy! Dummy!”
The eyes of the LORD God are on the sinful kingdom to sift and destroy it. (Amos 9.8, 9).
I’m not making this up. You can read all about it throughout the Scriptures. And if we think for one second that God is not talking about right now, we are kidding ourselves to death.
“All the sinners of My people shall die…” (Amos 9.10).
We have been warned. “Seek Me and live” (Amos 5.4, 6).
But we have also been covered in God’s mercy and grace.
“For I will defend this city, to save it for My own sake…” (Is. 37.35).
Revival—repentance, forgiveness, new life—is a thing. God’s redemptive thing:
“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 will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chron. 7.14).
“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us” (1 Jn. 1.9, 10). So, when we agree with Him about our sin—denials aside—and repent, and turn from our sin, the disaster foisted upon God’s unrepentant people will not fall upon us. Praise God!
Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt,
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.
Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin.
(J. Johnston, 1911)
Reflection
1. Why are daily confession of sin and repentance essential to growing in the Lord?
2. Why do we care about growing in the Lord? What’s the alternative to growing in the Lord? What does that look like?
3. Whom will you encourage today in their walk with and work for the Lord?
If professors [those who profess faith] make themselves like the world, God will level them with the world. The sinners who thus flatter themselves, shall find that their profession will not protect them. Matthew Henry (1662-1714),Commentary on Amos 9.1-10
Pray Psalm 7.1-8.
Pray that God will cleanse you of any sins and fortify you to resist temptations today. Seek mercy and grace to help in all your times of need.
Sing Psalm 7.1-8.
(Finlandia: Be Still, My Soul)
O LORD, my God, I trust in You: O save me!
Deliver me from all who seek my life.
If in my hands, You find iniquity,
or any evil, any wicked strife,
then let my foe pursue and overtake me,
and without honor I shall surely be.
Arise, O LORD, rise up in wrath to save me!
Let rage and judgment fall upon my foes!
From all who know You let abundant praise be;
rise up on high; the wicked curse with woes.
O Judge of all, judge now my righteousness
and my integrity, approve and bless.
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.