Amos 1-2: What God wants from his people

As I read through Amos 1-2, I am struck by an odd choice of words by the prophet. He uses a similar refrain to introduce judgment on the nations surrounding Israel: For three sins . . . even for four (NIV). Yet, every time he mentions a nation, he only lists one sin they are guilty for.

Here is a list of the nations: Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Edom, Moab, and Judah.

Their sins? The Gentile nations are guilty of acts of war--and are punished for those acts against God's chosen people. They are not, however, annihilated.

The sins of Judah--disobedience of the law through idol worship.

It strikes me that God's expectations of his chosen people are different from those who are Gentiles.

Then God speaks to Israel. For three sins, even four. And then he lists the sins: 1. selling the righteous into slavery, denying justice, sexual immorality in the places of worship, and inappropriate handling of God's resources. (Amos 2:6-8)

So, all of the surrounding nations are guilty of one (or two, in Judah's case) sins. Israel, however was guilty of the four. And they are the ones who will receive the most punishment.

Note also, they are guilty of mistreating the poor and improper worship. And God will punish them more severely than he will those guilty of war.

I wonder if his expectations of his chosen are different, and greater, than those of the Gentiles. If this is so, then his people should be more worried about how they treat the poor than how they treat the terrorist.

Genesis 3: Oops

So, God set up humanity with everything they needed--and then some. Not only did he create Eden, but he also made the possibility of evil through the gift of free will. The two trees were made as a test. Wouldn't it have been better if the trees had never been put there? Yeah, if you don't mind being a robot! However, the trees were there, and anyone who has ever lived would have to acknowledge that they would have eventually made the same mistake.

What was the mistake? According to Genesis, the mistake was pride--thinking that man or woman could ever be equal to God. This desire is at the heart of all sin--I know more than God, I know better than God, I can do it better than God. This pride--the desire to be God, plagues us all. It is the image of God corrupted. Were made to need him--not to BE him.

The subtlety of the serpent is not to be overlooked. The twisting of the truth is worse than outright lying--and can cause us to fall down a slippery slope rather jump off of a cliff. Either way, we find ourselves at the bottom of deep chasm with little hope of rescue, aside from the God we chose not to listen to.

In the end the woman followed the lies down the path, and she allowed her ears, eyes, and heart to be deceived. The man did not stop her, nor did he seek to stand--but he followed for the same reasons. They both fell together--as have all of us.

Eden was lost, and God was forced to establish his holiness. He did what Adam could not do.

Sometimes I wonder what if Adam had stopped the madness before he fell. We will never know. God stopped it. But he did not destroy his creation. He made them live in the world they twisted. For their redemption. For his glory.