This Is the Old Testament is part of a twelve-week thematic overview of the entire Bible. Each day we’ll read a thematic selection from a different book or two of the Bible, along with supplemental passages that show how the theme of that day’s main reading is found throughout Scripture. We’ll also read a brief summary of each book and a reflection on how the book fits into the larger story of Scripture. This week, we’ll continue looking at the Minor Prophets.
What Is Amos? The book of Amos uses poetic verse, in the form of oracles and visions, to proclaim God’s justice and judgment against Israel and Samaria.
How Amos Fits Into the Story: By proclaiming justice against both Israel and Samaria, the book of Amos reminds us of the sovereignty of God and His involvement with His people. Amos emphasizes the coming Day of the Lord, a day when all people will be held accountable, while also boasting in the hope and glory of Christ’s return.
Reflection Questions:
1. Reflect on what today’s three passages say about the difference between good and evil. What is God’s reaction to what He hates? How does your own reaction to sin compare with His?
2. How does today’s reading shape your understanding of the story of redemption?
Take time to reflect on your responses and share what you are learning with others in the community in the comments.
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36 thoughts on "Amos"
Beth and Laurie Crary; thank you so much for sharing!! I started sponsoring a little girl from Peru two days ago through Compassion International, and I am very much looking forward to the journey… so happy to hear that you have both had wonderful experiences!!
Jody, I have sponsored children with OneChild out of Colorado Springs. I began participating in this ministry when my children were young, to teach them about sharing with others. You get to correspond with your child through the organization. It has been a blessing.
Jody Lynn – Between us and our grown children we sponsor 5 Compassion kids. Our son introduced us to Compassion when he began at 20 supporting his first little boy ten years ago. Now he and his wife support 3 kids, and our daughter does too. We all researched several Christian organizations and were most impressed with this one. Highly recommend them.
The Day of the Lord is a theme that I studied in 1&2 Thessalonians in bthe “Children of the Day” study. I went to look up this phrase and found a Bible project video on this term. Long story short: “ The Day of the Lord is an invitation to resist the culture of Babylon (wanting to define food and evil in our own terms) and it’s a promise that one day, God will free our world of corruption and bring about the new thing He has in store.” Amos, y’all! It’s all connected! Keep opening your Bible!
https://bibleproject.com/learn/day-lord/
JODY LYNN – my husband and I are on our fifth child with Compassion. Highly recommend them.
Jody, I have been sponsoring a little girl in Nicaragua through Compassion for the past five years. It has been a huge blessing in my life and opened my eyes to the needs of children around the world. If God has laid it on your heart to sponsor a child, I can highly recommend doing that through Compassion. :)
Jody, visit https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3555
I always go to charity navigator before I give to an organization. Then you can decide for yourself.
Hi Jody Lynn
I’ve sponsored two children through compassion since 2009. They’re a wonderful organization and make things so easy and joyful. I’ve been with them so long that one of my kids is almost aged out of the program. So I’ll be looking to sponsor another one soon. They even worked with me when I briefly was unemployed due to the pandemic so that I could continue my sponsorship. Highly recommend
Kenya, I completely agree with you. It’s been on my heart lately to sponsor a child through compassion.com , and I’m wondering if anyone has experience with this organization? I feel very fortunate that my husband and I are both working, and that our children have what they need; and I would love to extend our blessings to a child that may need help. It’s a Christian based program that not only supplies the children with medical and school needs, but also teaches them about Jesus. I would love any insight if anyone has worked with this organization in the past. Thank you!
I pray that I would hate sin as the Lord does and run from it.
Two things really stood out to me from the passage in Amos 5. Verse 11 says “Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine.”
How often am I focused on building “my kingdom” and maintaining my comfort and securing my material possessions? Those things are temporary when my heart should be on what’s eternal. How often does my pursuit of those things come at the cost of loving another?
Like Taylor mentioned, I was really struck by God’s heart for justice. It’s all too easy to look at our world and to see the ways that we have oppressed, sinned against, and marginalized people. That runs completely counter to God’s will. Addressing evil and wrongdoing is central to redemption. God wants us to pursue what’s true, maintain justice in the courts, and protect the rights of the poor and oppressed. Praying God would show me the ways in my life, big or small, that I can work toward justice for all people.
Oh my goodness! The Lord put Philippians 4:8 on my heart yesterday after I was talking about a couple of my friends in a bad way. I’ve been reminded this morning that just because I have been a Christian for a long time does not mean that I am above accountability or any sin by any means. We are preparing for the Lord’s return, let’s keep striving!
The minor prophets like Amos bring just as powerful message as the major prophets do. According to the timeline in the study book Amos and Jonah were written or were alive about the same time. He’s prophecies were also before Daniel, Isaiah and Jeremiah. I think I will do what one of the podcasts suggested and read them in chronological order. I will write down their order and read them that way this will help with making more sense of what happened before Christ.
Sisters, I’m asking again for prayer for my sister, Carol, but this time it’s for wisdom concerning my nephew’s dog. I went to her house this weekend to take her out and had to go in and help her find her glasses. While I was in the house the dog nipped me twice. She doesn’t want to board the dog while he is in jail but not very many people can get into the house with the dog in there. Money isn’t the problem because the rest of the family is willing to help pay for it. Thank you.
God bless SRT sisters.
1. God hates sin And He’s asking us to turn away from it and to seek good and not evil. Yet He is compassionate, loving and waits for us to turn from our sin. My reaction to sin? We live in a sinful world, full of sinful people and I’m one of them. May I catch myself and ask for forgiveness when appropriate. 2. My God is compassionate is ready to forgive
Thank you Arina, Not Aroma. This new phone is autocorrecting and driving me a little crazy. But thankful I am learning to navigate better.
Israel and Judah were prosperous, powerful, and successful. The people were sacrificing out of requirement or expectation, instead of honor and awe. God sent a simple shepherd to bring His message; a message that declared judgement was coming-no matter how strong or powerful or where you ran.
As I was reading through Amos it hit me just how much God sees and what matters to Him; which is everything. The plumb line is set. Action and attitude, He sees all. Evil- great or slight, matter to God. I know this (in my head) everyday. However, when the seemingly little things tempt me, I want to be reminded that God sees, and I want it to change my heart and hands.
We matter to God. His great love, His righteousness, His justice is true, straight, plumb. The God of Armies is for us and wants His best for us. He knows on our own we could never be enough and so He gave His Son, Jesus.
Thank you, O God, for Your justice that cannot tolerate sin. Cleanse my heart. May my actions and attitude honor You I pray. Thank you always for Your mercy and the covering of Jesus. Amen.
Love the poetry of Amos. The scripture this morning pointing us to love good and hate evil. To seek justice and righteousness for the others, especially the poor and oppressed. And always love Phillipians 4:8-9. Where our thoughts should be. Praise God for His direction. Lord help my mind, my eyes to stay fixed on you, that my heart and my actions would be reflecting what I have learned, received and heard from you. Praying for Nate, Sarah Joy, that he will feel God’s peace and whatever this time brings he will see all God is doing in it and through it for his good.
ERB, Such joy to read your post this morning. Praising God your family time went so well, asking He continues to mend and rebuild relationships. And, for your conversations, with new SIL and friend, God is so good, praying for both, His truth and understanding. Thank you so much for praying. I got my stuff moved. And, felt God in it reminding me of His love even in the sorrow, and I have today to recover physically and so am blessed. Thank you dear ERB and all who have been praying for me, Claire, Kelly, Angie, so thankful for the support here. Isaiah 51 I found Jesus in God exclaiming in verse 4 The law will go out from me; my justice will become a light to the nations. My righteousness draws near speedily,my salvation is on the way, and my arm will bring justice.” And I love verse 11 as it speaks of the ransomed of the LORD and how we will enter Soon with singing and everlasting joy crowning our heads. And sorrow and sighing will flee away. How awesome is that Sisters. And, as 51 gets back into discussi g God’s wrath, God says in 22 See I have taken the cup that made you stagger, out of your hand. Instead He will give it to their tormentors. So much ERB, for our hearts in Isaiah, love your thoughts as always! Praying for you friend, His rest multiplied this day for you. I don’t know, but imagine seizures must be exhausting. Asking it would be His will to just take them away completely now, rather than later for you. As I know one day He will. This is my prayer and praying for your brother as well. Glory to our Mighty God maybe He move and may we all give Him praise. Aroma, loved what you wrote. Thank you.
@Susie this stood out to me when you wrote: Also, in this reading God shines the light on his abhorrence of duplicity and deceit. Leading double lives. Claiming to be Christian, but the words, thoughts, actions, and attitude of the heart don’t line up. I know we all fall short, but may God please help us to live lives worthy of His calling and to represent Him well. I don’t want to lead people away from Him, but to Him. I have been told that I know about God, but don’t know Him. Please, God forgive me and help me.
Thank you @Sarah Joy. You that said that God is Holy. May we never forget this. What happened to Isaiah when in His Presence? He fell on his face. He saw God for who He is and he saw himself for who he was. You are so right that God makes the way for us to come to Him. We could never do this on our own! (There is a wonderful series on the Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul. I found on YouTube. So good and highly recommend; https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30acyfm60fVpGc7Eo–3S6w1kdhXY9Cb
Kelly, I also have rated sin. You are right. It’s all sin and offensive to God. We were just praying in church for our nation yesterday. We as a nation have accepted and glamorized sins that are contradictory to the way we are to live. There are laws to permit sin. May God please forgive us. May leaders be surrounded by people that speak God’s Word to them, May their hearts be turned toward the Living God, and may they be drawn to Him. May they repent and hate what God hates and love what God lives. May the Bible become our standard for laws and statutes. May they care more about pleasing Him than pleasing people. Please have mercy on us and come save and heal our land. Please help each of us to see sin for what it is, be quick to repent, and with your help change our ways. I fall short every day. I need you, because I can never do this on my own. Amen.
One last thing I always think of when I see Philippians 4:8. My one pastor gave a message on this. He said that this Scripture should be the filter for all our thoughts. My husband had an affair and I kept dwelling on this. Was the affair true. Yes, but did this fit the other parts of the Scripture? No, so I should keep focusing on this I’m not saying not to get help or go to counseling to deal with issues in life, but it was doing me no good to keep thinking about this. Hope this helps someone
I know how easily I become accustomed to little things (good or bad), and then they become big things and I don’t even know how it happened. Sin is the same. I allow one tiny little slip, then it grows, and pretty soon bigger things are happening and I am accustomed to them. God abhors all of it! He is holy and just. He also is merciful and loves me. So, He created a way for my sins (big and little white lies) to be washed away through the blood of Christ my Lord and Savior! Thank you, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! Thank you for loving us as only a Holy Father can.
I do miss the little summations from SRT after the readings in this study, but glad I have you all to gain so much wisdom from! Although I try to read the bible, I understand the context and application so much more in these studies. Keep the insights coming! I know sometimes some of us think we don’t have the wisdom to comment, but all perspectives are welcome!
I think one of the greatest lessons we can learn from Amos 5 is that we all fall into this type of complacency on our lives. Where our blessings become idols and our sins become hidden amidst them. So many people pointed out the truth that we are quick to judge others – but that isn’t our place. We have to look into our own lives and turn our own sin to God, especially in the areas of complacency. I know I can do better to serve those less fortunate than I am.
Yesterday the sermon focused on how God is holy, which seems to tie in well with these readings. He cannot have communion with sin, yet the call is “seek me and live.” The call to come toward Him and away from sin. Truth is we can’t get “un-sinful” without God! He provides the sacrifice, He provides the way, He provides the holiness. As He transforms our hearts and minds He offers us Himself.
It’s all so good.
My brother had a short mission and is already stateside. (I found out shortly after I posted.) He’s struggling with quite a few things: the strain of his job and learning his role along with trying to repair his relationship. Nate could use all the prayers as he seeks to be God’s man in a difficult role in the navy.
God sees right through us to our hearts. We may go through the motions of doing and saying the right things at church, but we perpetuate unjustice by neglecting to care for the “least of these” either passively or intentionally. And THAT is what God calls evil because we are not representing Him well to the world.
He will not let Himself be misrepresented without judgment falling to bring correction. His name will be glorified in all the earth.
I “rate” sins. Since some are socially acceptable, the get a pass in my own life and in others’ lives. God sees all sin the same-evil rebellion against Him and His kingdom.
Thankfully Jesus came to overcome my propensity to sin and Holy Spirt is within to open my eyes to the unrightousness thoughts and actions I have. When I turn to God and live, I live as His true representative in this world
(Lord thank You for Your mercy)
@ERB lifting you up in prayer for your seizures! @Arina I loved your comment, I wrote the last part down in my journal!
In my Bible there’s a historical context paragraph at the beginning of each book. Israel was very powerful under Jeroboam II in the first half of the 8th century BC. According to my Bible, they confused overconfident nationalism with worshipping God (sound similar anyone?) It says “God is not impressed with Israel’s military might, or self-indulgent way of life. He is looking for justice and calling Israel to repentance.” It convicted me to look for ways I can promote justice in my current season and station in life. Justice for the immigrant, justice for the poor, justice for the hurting, the broken, the lost and least in our society. Those are my thoughts this Monday morning :) Have a blessed week sisters!
Exactly my thoughts. Well said. Praying for Godly leaders.
Wow Taylor that context is everything !
Seek God and live. Even in this book that seems to be passing judgment on Israel, God holds out redemption. His love for us amazes me.
Also, in this reading God shines the light on his abhorrence of duplicity and deceit.
Wow!! Amos 5 has SO much in it!!! I feel like we could all sit down and talk about this for days!!! I highlighted the entire chapter!!!! What AWESOME God we have!!! One of Righteousness and Mercy and Faithfulness but also One of Justice!!! SO GOOD!!!
MAURA, I prayed for you all weekend, and am hoping that as difficult as it must’ve been that you felt God’s presence, discernment and wisdom with you at all times!!! My weekend was good, full but good!!! And the visit with my estranged brother and SIL last week went better than any other visit than we’ve previously had in over 13years!!! So THANK YOU for praying!!!
Today you said you wanted to go over Isaiah 51… I LOVED this chapter!!! And when I read Amos Chapter 5 from today’s SRT reading it made me think of Isaiah 51!! I love when different scriptures from different books of the Bible mirror and highlight the steadfast amazingness of our God!!! SO cool!!! Here are my takeaways from this chapter (51) Foundation. Deliverance. Freedom. Faithfulness!!! God is WAY bigger than we are and He knows exactly how and when to get our attention… a LOT to glean and take with us, but so very good to be reminded about!!! Here are the verses I highlighted:
Isaiah 51:1
Isaiah 51:4-8
Isaiah 51:11-16
Isaiah 51:21-23
Also, my Mum (an amazing strong woman of God & faith) my new SIL (who is still finding her way spiritually) and her friend (who is struggling spiritually) and myself had an unexpected and GREAT time of fellowship and an AWESOME conversation about God, and who He is..and where He stands.. it was an anointed time filled with the Spirit of God!!! It was such a blessing to be a part of!!! So prayers for my new SIL and her friend and all the seeds that went down yesterday through our conversation would flourish!!
I would love some prayers for me as well. I am having a really rough time with my seizures right now…and have been in bed since yesterday afternoon (I actually had to leave the awesome conversation we were having yesterday because I was struggling so much) so prayers are definitely appreciated!!! Thank you so much!!! Much Love and many prayers to you my friend (& ALL my sisters here at SRT) May our day be FILLED with revelations from the Holy Spirit!!! Amen!!
ERB- I am sorry to hear that your seizures are so bad! I will pray right now for healing for you.
Why is it so easy to see and criticize people’s differences instead of seeing and embracing their uniqueness? I often have to stop and correct myself when I see someone who is physically unkempt; it is not my place to judge, I do not know their story and what has brought them to this place. It is only my place to love and have compassion for them, to help in any way I can even if it is just a warm and friendly smile to let them know they are worthy and loved. Lord, I pray that you continue to bring my heart to a place of love, kindness, compassion and righteousness. In your son Jesus’ name, Amen.
@Wendy I couldn’t agree with you more.
Lord help me to deal with my sin and show love and compassion to others, leaving judgement in your hands. What a wonderful peaceful feeling knowing my responsibility and yours!
It’s very easy for me to read this and judge Israel from the outside and think that it would be easy to not make those same mistakes today. Except I do. It might not have a different gods name but I am guilty of giving attention to things other than God. But God knows all and he sent His son to shoulder my burden. Amen.
Amen, Arina…❤
Rather than leaving the guilty unpunished, God sent His own Son to bear the weight of our guilt. Lord, help me to see my sin in the right perspective. Knowing what it has cost You, may I live a life in which justice and righteousness flow like water.
Amen Arina! Reading this selection from Amos was sobering and also petrifying, some days I feel like I can hardly go one hour without commiting a sin- unkind thoughts, complaining, materialism, the list goes on. Your comment really helps me to put this reading in perspective, and not to become despondent and give up entirely.