Touchdown

Touchdown

Read Amos 1:1–2:16

10. “It was I who rescued you from Egypt and led you through the desert for forty years, so you could possess the land of the Amorites.
11. I chose some of your sons to be prophets and others to be Nazirites. Can you deny this, my people of Israel?” asks the Lord.
12. “But you caused the Nazirites to sin by making them drink wine, and you commanded the prophets, ‘Shut up!’ 13So I will make you groan like a wagon loaded down with sheaves of grain.
14. Your fastest runners will not get away. The strongest among you will become weak. Even mighty warriors will be unable to save themselves.
15. The archers will not stand their ground. The swiftest runners won’t be fast enough to escape. Even those riding horses won’t be able to save themselves.
16. On that day the most courageous of your fighting men will drop their weapons and run for their lives.” Amos 2:10-16

If you follow football, you know that the game has seen a lot of changes over the past decade. Of all the changes though, the worst one has to be the new attitudes of many who play. These players often act cocky, intimidating, and unsportsmanlike.

In this set of prophecies, Amos takes aim at cockiness and unfettered bravado. Arrogant warriors, beware. God is not impressed.

Amos’s other prophecies in this reading contain clues that God doesn’t always respect what we do. Note, for example, what God can do with a mere shepherd and fig grower. Second, mark God’s words toward some upper-class types who exploit the poor while giving extra tithes and sacrifices. It’s kind of sobering.

Television and movies bombard us with heroes (and heroines) who defy death and all foes with a huge arsenal of skill, tools, intelligence, luck, and bravado. Because of their incredible fortune, they appear to fear nothing. Many people try to model their lives after these fake images, even though their heroes don’t exist in real life. They try to be like these cellophane gods: tough, indestructible, and fearless. But God is not impressed with skill or bravado. He says that even the best, most skilled, and toughest people will be terrified when his judgment comes (Amos 2:16). And it will come.

Don’t be swayed by the self-assured rhetoric of those who think they can make it through life without God. Don’t let them lead you to conceit—don’t trust in your own brain power, skill, or bravado. God fears no one, and one day all people will fear him.