Today’s passage: Amos 4:1-13
Helpful thoughts:
- Bashan was a lush, fertile valley region. The women mentioned here are being compared to cattle who are only interested in what they can put into their own mouths next.
- The women are not nurturing and caring for those in need. Instead they are demanding service from their husbands and taking from others for themselves.
- They did all of this while continuing to observe religious practices.
- The God of hosts, or the Lord of Hosts is a name that points to God’s strength and guaranteed victory over His enemies. The Lord has hosts of angels in His army (e. g. 2 Kings 6:17) and He will never know defeat.
- It is right to fear the Lord and submit to Him. It is right to acknowledge Him as our Lord, provider and sustainer.
- Man’s natural disposition is to blame God when things go poorly and to praise ourselves or someone else when things go well.
- When God worked on Israel’s behalf to give them opportunity to repent, they turned elsewhere.
Questions to consider:
- In our society, when things go poorly, who do people turn to for help..to “fix” things? How has the church differed (Or not) in seeking help in our times of need? What has the Lord called His people to do in times of plenty and in times of need? What is our priority and hope?
- If the church were following the world’s ways of looking everywhere but to God, what would repentance look like? What would that look like for an individual? For a church as a whole?
- If you have put your faith in Christ and have become a child of God, what confidence and assurance does belonging to the Lord of Hosts give you?