The Laments of Love

“Hear this Word which I take up against you, a lamentation, O house of Israel: the virgin of Israel has fallen. She will rise no more. She lies forsaken on her land. There is no one to raise her up. For thus says the Lord God: the city that goes out by a 1,000, shall have a 100 left, and that which goes out by a 100 shall have 10 left to the house of Israel.” Amos 5:1-3

The Lord laments for those who do not want Him in their lives. He knows that in time, things will go from bad to worse for them.

“For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: seek Me and live, but do not seek Bethel, nor enter Gilgal, nor pass over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing. Seek the Lord and live, lest He break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, with no one to quench it in Bethel—you who turn justice to wormwood, and lay righteousness to rest in the earth! He made the Pleiades and Orion. He turns the shadow of death into morning and makes the day dark as night. He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the face of the earth. The Lord is His Name. He rains ruin upon the strong, so that fury comes upon the fortress.” Amos 5:4-9

Instead of going to the temples of idols located in Bethel, Gilgal and Beersheba, they needed to go to the Lord. Handmade idols could not save them. God could. Those who adored manmade idols were destined to be displaced to distant lands. In fact, God was about to release fire upon them. They treated righteous deeds like bitter medicine. But righteous deeds and God are one and the same. You cannot separate them. Some were looking to the stars for help but God created the stars. Those who stood up for other gods before Him would fall.

“They hate the one who rebukes in the gate, and they abhor the one who speaks uprightly.” Amos 5:10

In Proverbs 1:23-37, the Lord says, “Turn at My rebuke; surely I will pour out My Spirit on you. I will make My Words known to you. Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out My hand and no one regarded, because you disdained all My counsel, and would have none of My rebuke, I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your terror comes, when your terror comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.”

Conviction in one’s conscience is a gift from God. It means He loves you as one of His children.

In Proverbs 1:33, the Lord says, “Whoever listens to Me will dwell safely, and will be secure, without fear of evil.” The Hebrew word for “listen” (שָׁמַע) includes with intention to obey.

“Therefore, because you tread down the poor and take grain taxes from him, though you have built houses of hewn stone, yet you shall not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink wine from them. For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: afflicting the just and taking bribes; diverting the poor from justice at the gate. Therefore the prudent keep silent at that time, for it is an evil time.” Amos 5:11-13

There’s a saying about the quiet before the storm. The Lord saw that the rich had built their mansions of hewn stone from taxes levied on the bread of the poor. The rich also purchased wine vineyards with these revenues. They hurt people who stood up for what was right. They used bribes to ensure that judges ruled in their favor. They snatched legal victories from the poor at the gate meaning at the last minute. Prudent people knew not to speak up lest someone hurt or kill them. They had to look to God alone for justice.

“Seek good and not evil, that you may live; so the Lord God of hosts will be with you, as you have spoken. Hate evil! Love good! Establish justice in the gate! It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.” Amos 5:14-15

The Lord offered the leaders of Israel good counsel. Hate evil. Love good. Reform the judicial system! If they reformed their ways, God would be gracious to them.

“Therefore the Lord God of hosts, the Lord, says this: there shall be wailing in all streets, and they shall say in all the highways, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They shall call the farmer to mourning, and skillful lamenters to wailing. In all vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through you, says the Lord.” Amos 5:16-17

In Matthew 5:14, Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.” We can mourn knowing that the Lord will not despise us for doing so. Psalm 34:18 says, “The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart and saves such as have a contrite spirit.” Psalm 147:3 says, “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.”

James 4:7-10, says, “Submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

We can pray like this, “Heavenly Father, please forgive my sins and please be gracious to me for the sake of Your Son Jesus Christ who gave His life for me on the cross. Me and my loved ones desperately need You. Please give us the victory in the Name of Your Son Jesus Christ. Amen.”

In Romans 7:24-25, Paul grieved when he focused on himself but rejoiced when he thought about the Lord. He wrote, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Jesus delivered him.

“Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness, and not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him! Or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him! Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?” Amos 5:18-20

The day of the Lord is good day for the repentant believers in the Lord. The day of the Lord is not a good day for those who are not right with Him.

“I hate, I despise your feast days, and I do not savor your sacred assemblies. Though you offer Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I regard your fattened peace offerings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs, for I will not hear the melody of your stringed instruments. But let justice run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream. Did you offer Me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness 40 years, O house of Israel? You also carried Sikkuth your king and Chiun, your idols, the star of your gods, which you made for yourselves. Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus, says the Lord, whose Name is the God of hosts.” Amos 5:21-27

God hated and despised their religious gatherings, their offerings, their songs and their music because He wanted justice and righteousness to flow from their lives. It is kind of like recounting Christmas and Easter stories from the Scriptures during a worship services and singing songs about Jesus, but then, being more excited about Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and worldly indulgences otherwise. The Lord knows when we love Him before all else.

“Woe to you who are at ease in Zion, and trust in Mount Samaria, notable persons in the chief nation, to whom the house of Israel comes! Go over to Calneh and see; and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory greater than your territory?” Amos 6:1-2

The well-known leaders in Samaria knew how to navigate their roles in such a way that they could enjoy maximum pleasure with minimal effort. But their people were ill-prepared for the day that tries by fire. The Lord urged them to remember what happened to the cities of Calneh, Hamath and Gath. According to Genesis 10:10, Nimrod built Calneh. It was later destroyed. In 2 King 18:33-34, Sennacherib boasted that Hamath fell before him. It had been a chief city in Syria. In 2 Kings 12:17, Hazael King of Aram defeated and captured Gath.

“Woe to you who put far off the day of doom, who cause the seat of violence to come near, who lie on beds of ivory, stretch out on your couches, eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall, who sing idly to the sound of stringed instruments, and invent for yourselves musical instruments like David, who drink wine from bowls, and anoint yourselves with the best ointments, but are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph. Therefore they shall now go captive as the first of the captives, and those who recline at banquets shall be removed. The Lord God has sworn by Himself, the Lord God of hosts says: I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his palaces. Therefore I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.” Amos 6:3-8

Amos warned the leaders of his people to prepare for the day of doom, but they kept on resting in their beds of ivory and on their couches. They ate the finest cuts of meat, drank wine, and soothed their skins with oils. They enjoyed excellent music. They didn’t want to hear about anyone’s affliction. The Lord said that they would be the first to be taken into captivity. Their banqueting days were coming to an end. The Lord declared, “I abhor the pride of Jacob and hate his palaces. Therefore I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.”

“Then it shall come to pass, that if ten men remain in one house, they shall die. And when a relative of the dead, with one who will burn the bodies, picks up the bodies to take them out of the house, he will say to one inside the house, ‘Are there any more with you?’ Then someone will say, ‘None.’ And he will say, ‘Hold your tongue! For we dare not mention the Name of the Lord.’ For behold, the Lord gives a command. He will break the great house into bits, and the little house into pieces.” Amos 6:9-11

After hearing that not even one out of ten in a house have survived the day of doom, the relative who picks up the bodies, stops the other from speaking about the Lord, because the day of doom is not over, both great houses (like this one) and little houses (like his) will be broken up due to the demise of their nation.

“Do horses run on rocks? Does one plow there with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into gall, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood, you who rejoice in a thing of naught, who say, ‘Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?’ But behold, I will raise up a nation against you, O house of Israel, says the Lord God of hosts; and they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the Valley of the Arabah.” Amos 6:12-14

They had treated justice as gall (poison), and righteous fruit as wormwood (bitterness). Horses cannot run on rocks and oxen cannot plow rocks, neither could these people do what was just and right. They had no appetite for it. By the standards that they set for themselves they were doing just fine, but according to God’s standard, they had become abominable. Their nation was about to be defeated from one end to the other. This is why the Lord was lamenting for them.

In Luke 19:41-42, as Jesus “drew near, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, ‘If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.’”

Hebrews 4:15 says, “We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”

Do we pray for people daily? Do our prayers and actions express depth of love for them? Are we feeling their pain as Jesus does? I want to be like Jesus in this regard.

“Dear Heavenly Father, please help us Your children to love people as You do. May they feel the depth of Your love for them via our words, actions and prayers. In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen.”