AMOS CHAPTER 3

-The whole family refers to Judah and Israel, all 12 tribes. God has brought all of them out of Egypt. He took care of them, gave them food, protected them, did everything for them, and now they are turning their back on God. They are worshipping false idols and running after monetary gain. Because God has chosen them and they turned away He must punish. They are His chosen people and even they did not choose Him. What a hard position to be in for God. God loves and it is returned with an affair with other gods. How would you respond if the object of your love had an affair? Especially if you are the all-knowing, all-powerful God?
-Walk together is an illustration of God walking with His people and that they could experience the presence of God. This cannot happen any longer with their sin before a Holy God.
-God will not call out, or roar without executing His judgment.
-God continues to talk about His judgment and His execution of it. He will send natural evil to punish the moral evil. This is how God executes His judgment many times, not just to be mean, but to draw His people back to Himself. It is not crazy wrath, but solid discipline.
-God did execute this judgment later by the Babylonians and they did kill most of the people and only left a small remnant. God promised that here by His talk about the lamb and only its bones being left.
-God will come back to the land later through Josiah, but for now He will punish not only the poor, but primarily the rich that have summer homes and winter homes. He will destroy their magnificent houses and bring them to ruin. How quickly God can do this whether it be through battle or a natural disaster like Katrina.

Things I learned from this chapter
God’s wrath is not like my wrath at all. He has a Holy wrath that is rooted fully in discipline and bringing about restoration where it is possible. His judgment and wrath is much more direct than mine, I am way too worried about what people think than I am about their end goal. I should be more worried about people’s holiness than about how they perceive me. I also am challenged to not be like the Israelites and lay up my treasure here on earth and desert God so easily. This is a temptation every day that I must battle and stay true to the God who has called me out as His son and knows what is best for my life. I am thankful to God today for His discipline and for keeping me on the right track.