Amos 1
Today's Passage: Amos 1
One of the phrases that I couldn’t stand to hear as a child but now find myself uttering without regret as a parent is: “Because I said so!” As kids, we needed an explanation. As parents, we typically have none; hence the authoritative flex.
In the book of Amos, we see the phrase, “Thus says the Lord” repeated 5 times, plus an extra “He said” in verse 2 and a “says the Lord” in verse 15. This is not God having no explanation for the reasons behind the judgment He was pronouncing. In fact, all of these “Thus says the Lord” were perfect explanations of why God did what He did. He rebukes Israel for:
•Mistreating the Gileads
•Exiling a nation
•Breaking covenant
•Murder
Of anyone, God should have the right to let it fall on a “because I said so,” but He is just and righteous in His judgments. God always has a definitive answer for the “why” that we have, and He is trustworthy in His decisions.
Today, if you don’t have an answer from God that satisfies you, will you lean on His holiness and goodness as hope for the reason? You can trust Him as a good Father. If God says, “because I said so,” we can certainly believe it is for a good reason, even if we’ll never know.
Written By: Drew Dukes
One of the phrases that I couldn’t stand to hear as a child but now find myself uttering without regret as a parent is: “Because I said so!” As kids, we needed an explanation. As parents, we typically have none; hence the authoritative flex.
In the book of Amos, we see the phrase, “Thus says the Lord” repeated 5 times, plus an extra “He said” in verse 2 and a “says the Lord” in verse 15. This is not God having no explanation for the reasons behind the judgment He was pronouncing. In fact, all of these “Thus says the Lord” were perfect explanations of why God did what He did. He rebukes Israel for:
•Mistreating the Gileads
•Exiling a nation
•Breaking covenant
•Murder
Of anyone, God should have the right to let it fall on a “because I said so,” but He is just and righteous in His judgments. God always has a definitive answer for the “why” that we have, and He is trustworthy in His decisions.
Today, if you don’t have an answer from God that satisfies you, will you lean on His holiness and goodness as hope for the reason? You can trust Him as a good Father. If God says, “because I said so,” we can certainly believe it is for a good reason, even if we’ll never know.
Written By: Drew Dukes
1 Comment
Amen to this message! Also while reading this passage in Amos, I realized the cities, kings, or kingdoms mentioned in the text no longer exist today. The city of Tyre, the kingdom of the Philistines, and other ancient places had offended God in their sins. I continue to pray for the world and our nation that we are on fire for the Lord!