What is God Trying to Tell Us?
God ponders on his own problem. He has tried everything, to no avail. What on earth does he have to do to get through to these people?
Imagine you live in a land where one year there was absolutely no harvest. Literally, none. Consider the implications in detail. What would you miss most? What would you eat? What would it do to your health? What would be the side effects on the economy, industry, transport, etc?
The following year things are a little better and the outlook more hopeful — until, that is, the mildew strikes and the locusts swarm in and devour everything. Now what are the consequences and how do you feel about them?
The third year people are dying of disease like flies. The neighbourhood is increasingly unpleasant to live in and although there are still a few good things around — remnants of past glories — nobody has much interest in them any more.
There are more important things to worry about. Neighbouring countries are aware of your predicament. You are an ideal candidate for asset stripping raids from over the border and when your young men try to defend what you have left they are quickly routed and put to the sword.
The usual questions, such as ‘what have we done to deserve this?’ or ‘why is God behaving like this and if he is a God of love why doesn’t he stop it?’ are non-productive, so try asking a different one: is Somebody trying to tell us something? Amos has no doubt. God is trying to tell us to come to our senses and to come to terms with reality. But in such a tough situation what might reality be? And how would we get there?