Chosen for a Purpose

Please see the links to our EXTRA Bible Study notes at the bottom of the page.

Opening Prayer

Lord God, You are holy and ever to be worshipped. Glorious is Your name and power.

Read Amos 3:1-15

^[1] Hear this word, people of Israel, the word the LORD has spoken against you-against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt: ^[2] “You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins.” ^[3] Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so? ^[4] Does a lion roar in the thicket when it has no prey? Does it growl in its den when it has caught nothing? ^[5] Does a bird swoop down to a trap on the ground when no bait is there? Does a trap spring up from the ground if it has not caught anything? ^[6] When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it? ^[7] Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets. ^[8] The lion has roared- who will not fear? The Sovereign LORD has spoken- who can but prophesy? ^[9] Proclaim to the fortresses of Ashdod and to the fortresses of Egypt: “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria; see the great unrest within her and the oppression among her people.” ^[10] “They do not know how to do right,” declares the LORD, “who store up in their fortresses what they have plundered and looted.” ^[11] Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: “An enemy will overrun your land, pull down your strongholds and plunder your fortresses.” ^[12] This is what the LORD says: “As a shepherd rescues from the lion’s mouth only two leg bones or a piece of an ear, so will the Israelites living in Samaria be rescued, with only the head of a bed and a piece of fabric from a couch.” ^[13] “Hear this and testify against the descendants of Jacob,” declares the Lord, the LORD God Almighty. ^[14] “On the day I punish Israel for her sins, I will destroy the altars of Bethel; the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground. ^[15] I will tear down the winter house along with the summer house; the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed and the mansions will be demolished,” declares the LORD.

Meditate

“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight” (Eph. 1:4). What a challenging purpose for our life!

Think Further

The problem with believing you are special is that you might assume you deserve special privileges. That seems to be what Israel thought. Since they were God’s chosen people, God should punish their enemies but treat their failures with indulgence. Amos declared that they were wrong. Being special meant special responsibilities, and failure meant punishment, not indulgence (1-2). The same is true for Christians. “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit,” said Jesus (John 15:16, NIV), using the imagery of a vine. Branches that fail to bear fruit face being pruned–a painful experience (John 15:2,6).

No doubt Amos’s hearers asked what right he had to say such things to them. He uses clever rhetorical questions to make his point. Five times he asks questions that put the effect before the cause (3-5), each drawing from the crowd the answer “No” and establishing that effects have causes. Then he asks a question that puts cause before effect and demands the answer “Yes” (6a). When he comes to his climactic question, which puts effect before cause again (6b), the crowd can only agree that if disaster comes it is caused by the Lord. Amos then appeals to a belief about prophecy that they would accept (7) and declares that since God has spoken to him, he must proclaim his uncomfortable message (8).

To support his condemnation he calls on the Philistines and Egyptians to come and see what is going on in Israel. Instead of communal harmony there is “great unrest” (9) because of oppression. The powerful are exploiting others to amass wealth. Even those who do not know God’s Law can condemn Israel by their limited sense of right and wrong. How humiliating for God’s people! They are ready for pruning (11-15).

Apply

“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded” (Luke 12:48). Ask God what he wants from you.

Closing prayer

Lord Jesus, You are the vine and I am the branch. As painful as it can be, do Your pruning work on me. I want to be faithful to You.

Click here to sign up to receive the EXTRAs via email each quarter.

Encounter with God is published in the USA under license from Scripture Union England and Wales, Trinity House, Opal Court, Opal Drive, Fox Milne, Milton Keynes, MK15 0DF.

Yesterday’s reading

View all readings

Tomorrow’s reading