Amos 5:1–3

Hear this word which I take up against you, a lamentation, O house of Israel:

The virgin of Israel has fallen;
She will rise no more.
She lies forsaken on her land;
There is no one to raise her up.

 For thus says the Lord GOD:

“The city that goes out by a thousand
Shall have a hundred left,
And that which goes out by a hundred
Shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”

This is hugely sad. The Hebrew word translated as "Lamentation” is qi-nah (קִינָה). It literally means elegy or dirge. Even though some of it is in the future tense, it’s still a funeral speech.

These are desperate times for Israel, and they don’t know it. For the first seventeen verses of chapter five, God will turn up the volume all the way in a “going nuclear” attempt to get Israel to repent. This will feel a bit like the pitch in one of those silly spam emails that begins with the words, “Only one day left …”—except that it’s legit.

Israel won’t be just decimated, which means losing a tenth; they will lose nine-tenths and only keep a tenth. As we’ve seen before, that’s the covenant remnant. And the virgin of Israel isn’t a virgin in Israel; it is Israel. God sees the nation as His precious daughter.

Even though God is sentencing her to “I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up,” He’s broken-hearted about it.

God’s discipline of His servants is often remarkably strict. But never forget that everything is rooted in love. This is the key to understanding life. God does not lose His temper the way we do. His patience never runs out.

So, if you’re going through an especially tough spell, keep a lookout for His love in all things. The action can get incredibly intense, but the stakes are just as high. God wants us to make progress and that can get expensive because it’s so precious. CS Lewis had a wonderful explanation of this in Mere Christianity:

The great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not. It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and, therefore, it is quite relentless in its determination that we shall be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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The weekly study guides, which include the Monday–Friday devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.