Amos 3 Devotional

The Weight of Being Known

““Only you have I known from all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.””Amos 3:2 (BSB)

God speaks to the whole family he brought out of Egypt, and his words are startling. Of all the families of the earth, he has known only them, and therefore he will punish them for all their sins (3:2). Being chosen was never a shield for wrongdoing. It made their sin more serious, not less.

Amos then asks a string of plain questions. Does a lion roar with no prey? Does a trap spring with nothing to catch? Does disaster come to a city unless the LORD has done it (3:4-6)? Every effect has a cause, and the cause of the coming ruin is God himself. Yet he does nothing without first revealing his plan to his servants the prophets (3:7). The lion has roared, and his warning is a mercy. Samaria stores up violence in its citadels and builds houses of ivory (3:10, 3:15), and those houses will fall. Hebrews says the Lord disciplines the one he loves (Hebrews 12:6). To be known by God means he takes your life seriously enough to warn you.

To think about: What warning from God have you been treating as optional because you assume your closeness to him protects you?