Amos 1-4: Prepare to Meet Your God

“Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel,
   and because I will do this to you,
   prepare to meet your God, O Israel.”
 He who forms the mountains,
   creates the wind,
   and reveals his thoughts to man,
he who turns dawn to darkness,
   and treads the high places of the earth—
   the LORD God Almighty is his name.  - Joel 4:12-14

There are two kinds of judgment from God.  There is the judgement of the sinners, those who don't know him, those who often refuse to know him or acknowledge that he exists.  Then, there is the judgement of God's people.  The ones who should have a deep knowledge of him, of his power, of his might.  Unfortunately, through the years, as it did with the Israelites, that knowledge of God gets watered down and he becomes our possession more than we become his.    He is our God who gets us out of tight places.  He is our God who heals us.  He is our God who works on behalf of our latest whim.  He is our God.  We give him our tithes. We give him our offerings. We worship him in word if not in deed.  Is that enough?

God has judgement planned for the unrighteous.  They are not his people.  But, when God's people sin, when they slowly drift away from him, they will bear the consequences as well.  Initially, they may bear it individually, but eventually, as with the children of Israel who drifted so far from God, they will bear it collectively.  How would our lives be different, if we heard these words today, 'Prepare to meet your God.?

2010 Post - Amos 1-4:  The Lion Has Roared