Amos 4

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Amos 4 Commentary

by Brad Boyles

My most interesting takeaway from this passage is simply the accountability to which God claims full responsibility for. Many times, we are quick to try and cover up the characteristics of God that don’t appeal to us. We modify Him up, or fit Him into the box we need. We say things like, “well, God didn’t really mean it that way,” or “God didn’t cause that to happen, He just allowed it to.” These are phrases that can sometimes try to soften or improve the characteristics of God.

But, in this chapter of Amos, we read of God attributing these consequences to no one other than Himself.

• Amo 4:6  I gave you absolutely nothing to eat in all your cities
• Amo 4:7  I also withheld the rain from you while there were still three months until harvest
• Amo 4:9  I struck you with blight and mildew; the locust devoured your many gardens and vineyards, your fig trees and olive trees, yet you did not return to Me
• Amo 4:10  I sent plagues like those of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I caused the stench of your camp to fill your nostrils, yet you did not return to Me
• Amo 4:11  I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick snatched from a fire, yet you did not return to Me

God very plainly says, it was Me. I withheld bread. I withheld rain. I did it because I wanted you to see the folly of your ways, and return to me! Ultimately, I did it, because I love you!

This is what happens when we cheapen the character of God. We make him out to be a genie that is only interested in giving us what we want, and never demands respect and obedience from us. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge. His love runs deeper than we can understand.

When I read these passages, I think about how serious God is about redeeming his people. I see how far this Father will go to bring back his children. He’s not afraid to put you through temporary struggles in order to produce eternal fruit. God longs desperately for you to come to Him and leave the pigpen of slop you’ve been living in. This has been His goal since the beginning.

Do not skim over these verses and write them off as “Old Testament stuff.” We serve a God who will go to war with our stubborn flesh. Praise God He pursues us with everything!