When God Comes Among Us: Amos 5:16-17
God will come among us and evaluate what He finds. He did not create the world so He could stand off at a distance and study what we do with it. He wants us to become more like Him as we live. He wants us to see His characteristics in the world He created. To that end, He will visit and develop relationship with us.
Immediately after telling the people to seek good and not evil, Amos speaks of impending destruction. Amos hopes the Lord might be merciful, but he warns of judgment. Amos knows what God knows. Words are cheap. People don’t usually change when all that is required of them is listening.
How many times do parents tell children the difference between right and wrong, yet the lesson only sticks after the child suffers consequences? How often do teachers tell their students the right way, explain the pitfalls of incorrect logic, yet the students learn after getting in trouble, getting a bad grade, or experiencing some other negative consequence. How many can claim to be a horrible driver in youth, only learning how to drive well after experiencing an accident, having a close call, or having a friend hurt in a bad accident?
Given, these are broad generalities. There are exceptions to every rule. Human beings in general, however, learn best from living through experiences. We aren’t often convinced by words until they are paired with experience. The experience makes us see the truth in words.
Therefore, Amos says there will be wailing and mourning because the Lord will pass through them. This is a concept that doesn’t get much time in the modern church. When we talk about God, we speak in terms of peace, love, grace, mercy, and wisdom. We talk of God coming among us in pleasant overtures. We don’t frequently speak about God’s hand of judgment. We don’t speak about God kicking Adam and Eve out of Eden, or the Tower of Babel, or the Flood narrative. Those are stories we know, but we don’t dwell on the negative aspects of the stories that much.
When God comes among us, He brings what we deserve. When God visited Abraham or Elijah, he brought guidance and gentle shaping. His visits may be pleasant or perhaps mildly uncomfortable as He challenges us. On the other hand, when we are in opposition to God, we should expect His judgment to be harsher because He needs to get our attention first.
Ultimately, God wants to get our attention. He’d rather guide us gently, nudging us slightly as we figure out our way through life. He will come in judgment, though, if we do not listen to Him and heed His gentler call. He may let us get our way and experience the consequences of our actions before coming among us and showing us the error of our way. Still, God will come among us and evaluate what He finds.
