Amos 7:4–6

Thus the Lord GOD showed me: Behold, the Lord GOD called for conflict by fire, and it consumed the great deep and devoured the territory. Then I said:

“O Lord GOD, cease, I pray!
Oh, that Jacob may stand,
For he is small!”
So the LORD relented concerning this.
“This also shall not be,” said the Lord GOD.

By “the great deep,” Amos means a great body of water—probably the Mediterranean Sea, which is the great sea in Hebrew (הַיָּ֥ם הַגָּדֹ֖ול “Ha-yahm Ha-gah-dole”).

But whether it’s the Mediterranean or not isn’t important. The point is that the coming fire will consume everything, even deep bodies of water. That’s pretty all-consuming.

But, again, God relents. And, again, Amos’s plea is simply that Jacob (Israel) is small. If God doesn’t relent, Israel won’t stand.

The beauty of this is its simple appeal to God’s mercy. Amos doesn’t claim that Israel deserves anything. His plea is that the consequences will be unbearable.

It’s an appeal to God’s love.

Never forget that God’s love is the foundation of all good things. We are confused when we think our efforts contribute to this.

God does not love us more when we serve Him. Sure, we get things done that need to get done, and that’s a good thing. Our works can glorify God, but the benefits to others and to His kingdom are just that. We don’t earn any points.

This is part of the beauty of salvation by faith alone. Our position is secure independent of our works.

This leaves us free to serve Him better. Our goals can be team goals. We can focus on the things that advance His kingdom and not waste time thinking about our position.

One place where this makes a big difference is in charity. No matter what we do, if we’re thinking about the points we’re earning, it’s not really charity. We’re still working for our own benefit.

That distracts us from the true mission and can even deafen us to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Conversely, with our own benefit out of the picture, charity can really be charity.

Only then does it truly glorify God.

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.