We are picking back up in Chapter 4. The Lord already predicted an enemy invader in Chapter 3 and now He points out that He tried less severe methods first in an attempt to get the people to turn back to Him.
"'I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to Me,' declares the Lord." (Amos 4:6) We've referred back to Deuteronomy 28 a number of times in our study of the Old Testament because it contains the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience. One of the curses was that crops would fail. "You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little, because locusts will devour it. You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine or gather the grapes, because worms will eat them. You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off." (Deuteronomy 28:38-40)
Another warning He issued was that there wouldn't be enough rain if they turned to idolatry. "The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron. The Lord will turn the rain of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed." (Deuteronomy 28:23-24) We see from the book of Amos that this has begun to happen. "I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another. One field had rain; another had none and dried up. People staggered from town to town for water but did not get enough to drink, yet you have not returned to me,' declares the Lord." (Amos 4:7-8) It's not that He wants to do these things but that these things are intended to cause people to question why they are happening and to conclude that it's because they haven't been faithful to the Lord. Any time hardship comes into our lives we should first ask whether we've done something to cause it.
He foretold swarms of locusts would invade the land. "Swarms of locusts will take over all your trees and the crops of your land." (Deuteronomy 28:42) We find locusts mentioned in this next passage from the book of Amos. "'Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, destroying them with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you have not returned to Me,' declares the Lord." (Amos 4:9) Disasters like this can strike any nation whose citizens forget the Lord. I wouldn't want it to seem as if I'm pointing a finger at the people of Amos' day as if they did anything worse than the things that go on in today's world. There is no nation on earth too powerful to fall if its people forsake the Lord.
In modern times the national disasters may take different forms than what we're seeing mentioned in the book of Amos. They might involve economical collapse or political collapse. They might involve weather events. They might involve war. The Bible says, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord," (Psalm 33:12) but it also says, "Cursed is anyone who makes an idol." (Deuteronomy 27:15) The idols of our age are less overt because we are more sophisticated than the people of ancient times. If someone were to set up a carved image in front of us, most of us would refuse to bow to it, so Satan uses more subtle methods these days. He dresses idolatry up in disguises so that we will replace the Lord with work or with relationships or with hobbies, for example. There's nothing wrong with being a conscientious employee or with loving our families or with having some non-sinful forms of recreation. But when we allow those things to take first place in our lives---pushing the Lord aside---we are committing a form of idolatry. I've been guilty of this myself and perhaps you have too. I'm trying to do a better job at making sure I'm not putting time with God last on my daily list of things to do. I think we will all have more successful and peaceful days if we begin our days with Him while our minds are sharp instead of leaving prayer last on the list when we're tired in the evening.
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