Listen to today’s devotional Amos 3:1-8 I don't remember what it's like to drive a car without a check engine light on. But when it's on for so long, there shouldn't be too much of a surprise when the car finally stops. There's no sense wondering, "Why is this happening to me?" when there's probably an answer under the hood that I’ve tried to ignore. To be sure, there are things we cannot explain about our life and the world around us. Grief and hardships, for example, should not always be so easily interpreted. But sometimes, when we say, “I don’t understand," we really mean something like, “I don’t want to admit it.” Amos 3 starts asking questions. Does a lion roar without a reason? Does a bird fall into a trap when there isn’t one? His questions build toward something his people probably don't want to hear. That what’s happening has something to do with how they’ve been living. Israel has mistaken being chosen for being excused. But God r...
Listen to today’s devotional Amos 1:1 You know how you can be halfway through a really good meal, and then somebody says something that makes you put your fork down? Amos would’ve been that guy. Amos 1:1 introduces him as one of the shepherds of Tekoa. I like that we learn what he did for a living before we hear what he had to say. Later, when a priest tells him to go preach somewhere else, Amos tells him where God found him in the first place. He was out with the flock. I imagine there is a lot to learn out there. Lessons about which sheep need your attention the most. Noticing the needs of an entire flock. A few chapters later, Amos talks about people stretched out on couches, eating lamb and drinking wine. And I keep thinking about the lamb. Somebody raised it. Somebody like Amos got up and went out to check on it even at the most inconvenient times. That's what shepherds do. I wonder how much of that kind of work ever crossed anybody’s mind over dinner. What gets Amos going i...