Cause and Effect: Amos 3:3-8

Do I listen to God when He sends people into my life to chasten my action?  Am I humble enough to receive rebuke or stubborn enough to demand my own way?  Is my heart malleable or hardened?

God presents six scenarios illustrating cause and effect:

• For two people to walk together, they must have a common destination. 
• Lions roar after the kill because roaring before the kill would alert prey to its presence. 
• If a lion hasn’t caught anything, what cause would he have to growl protectively? 
• Why would a bird land in a snare without bait to bring it in? 
• A trap only springs after it has been sprung. 
• When the ram’s horn is blared, people tremble because they know the horn is a sound of distress or a call to arms.

God wants the Hebrew people to understand Amos’ message is rooted in cause and effect.  Cause and effect scenarios have two sides to them.  Events happen after they’ve been triggered.  Without a trigger, the event doesn’t happen.  Both perspectives are present in these scenarios set forth by Amos.

What’s the point?  Look at the last scenario.  If calamity comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?

That verse is deep enough to easily inspire doctoral theses.  Look once more at what the Lord is claiming about Himself.  If calamity comes to a city, has not the Lord caused it?

Without pulling punches, the answer is yes.  The whole point of this section is to get Amos’ audience to feel cause and effect.  God set up the cause and effect because He wants the Hebrew people to associate judgment in the form of calamity with Him.  When the Assyrians march on Israel and take them into captivity, it is God. When the Assyrians march on Jerusalem and God visits the Assyrian army with a plague, it is God.  When the Babylonians conquer Jerusalem and drag the people into captivity, it is God.

God loves.  God blesses.  God picks us up when we stumble and helps us get back to our feet.  God is a loving Father who wants the best for us.

Part of being a loving Father, though, is understanding when tough love is required.  God warns us when we stray.  God calls us back to Him as we wander.  God cautions us when we flirt with temptation.  God allows us to feel the consequences of our actions when we persist in sin.  When necessary, God judges and brings calamity when we choose ultimate rebellion against Him.

Even so, God doesn’t want the people to remain unprepared.  He reveals His plan.  He sent Amos to the people to warn them.  God spoke.  He presented His people with a rebuke.  Are the people willing to listen?

I ask myself the same question.  Do I listen to God when He sends people into my life to chasten my action?