Thurs.’s Devo - Amos’ Last Words

Read: Amos 4:1-6:14; Revelation 2:18-3:6; Psalm 130:1-8; Proverbs 29:21-22 Amos did not mince words. He called the women of Samaria “fat cows” because they lived in luxury at the expense of the poor. God would be throw them from their fortresses. *** God reminded them of the punishment he brought on them to turn them around, but it didn’t make any difference in their actions. They refused to turn to the Lord. God sent all the plagues he had promised in the curses of Deuteronomy. *** Amos listed their offenses. They oppressed the poor and the righteous. They twisted justice by taking bribes. They taxed the people unfairly and stole from the poor to build their mansions. Sounds like today. *** Amos advised them to love what was good and to turn their courts into true halls of justice. There would be weeping in the future for those who walk in darkness. All hope and joy would be gone. God would not pay attention or honor their pretenses of worship. They served their pagan gods even in the wilderness after he had delivered them from those same gods. He reminds them what happened at Calneh and Hamath when those cities were destroyed. They would face the same fate. All their homes from the greatest to the smallest would be destroyed and the enemy would not have mercy. Their enemies would be obeying the word of the Lord. *** In Revelation, John was told to write a letter to the angel of the church of Thyatira. They were commended for their love, faith, service and endurance. But, they were rebuked for allowing the woman with the spirit of Jezebel to teach. She taught them to commit sexual sins and to eat food offered to idols. She was given time to repent but refused. God would cause her to suffer with those she sinned with. Unless they repented, her children would die. *** But to those who didn’t succumb to her teaching, God asked them to hold tight till he comes to rescue them. They would be given authority to rule the nations with an iron rod. They would walk in the same authority Jesus had. They would also be given the morning star. *** John was given a message to the angel of the church of Sardis. They had a reputation of being alive when they were really dead. God admonished them to wake themselves up and remember what they had heard and believed at the first. Some of them had not participated in evil and they would be clothed in white and their names would not be erased from the Book of Life. Jesus would claim them as his own. Lord, as we see the fortresses of evil coming down, may we stay faithful till the end.