God Speaks

During January, I have listened to several prophetic words bringing God’s warnings about the state of our world in 2024. As I pondered the phrases used, I was struck by God’s lovingkindness that He should continue to reach out to His wayward creation with dire warnings. Since Jesus returned to His Father, we have the potential to hear directly from God, if we are open to the Holy Spirit. But in Old Testament times, and still sometimes today, God needs someone to hear His heart and speak out to those who aren’t quite so ‘tuned-in.’ It can take courage to speak out when God is urging a prophetic word, especially if that word is a challenge, and if the ‘prophet’ God chooses isn’t someone widely acknowledged as having a prophetic gift. But God always wants to speak, and He will use those who are willing to hear His heart and, in obedience, give the message.

Amos was one such willing person. He was not a big-name spiritual leader. In fact he introduces himself at the beginning of his writings as a sheep breeder of Tekoa. He was not an obvious candidate to be God’s mouthpiece, but God called him to be a prophet. Amos clarifies this: ‘I was no prophet nor was I the son of a prophet, but I was a sheep breeder and a tender of sycamore fruit, then the Lord took me as I followed the flock and the Lord said to me “Go prophecy to my people Israel”’ (Amos 7:14-15).

God needed someone who was good at listening to hear His message and faithfully pass it on to those who needed to hear what He had to say. It seems that Amos, out on the hills, daily listening for the distress cries of a sheep, also had his ears open to God’s voice. God uses those who have listening ears. Perhaps in the hubbub of our overly noisy world many of us would also find listening to God easier in the solitude of a wild deserted place. Our loving Father God always wants to give the people He created, and loves, an opportunity to change their ways, to repent and turn away from their sinfulness. He willingly reveals to those who have ears to hear how He must respond to unrighteousness and wickedness. He gives fair warning of judgements that must come if ungodly ways continue.

Amos starts the prophetic word with warnings to several groups of peoples, although the main part of the message is for Israel. God reveals through Amos His clear knowledge of all their specific iniquities and says He must punish them. It is divine justice. (I wonder if the remnant of the peoples mentioned, people of Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab, as well as Judah and Israel, who didn’t heed God’s warning, are still under something of this judgement today). But when God speaks these warnings, He is also expressing His heart’s desire that those who are sinning might repent and turn from their unrighteousness, so they could be reunited with Him and His blessings could again flow.

So, how do we respond to God’s warnings to us today? Perhaps they are warnings concerning the corporate wrongs of our nation, or maybe they are relevant to issues that we must personally address. Whether they come through a prophetic word we have been given, or through a specific scripture that has grabbed our attention, or directly from Holy Spirit conviction, we should be careful not to dismiss any such warning. We shouldn’t be just ‘hearers of the word’ but also those who do something in response to God’s word. That ‘something’ may be to seek God’s forgiveness, as we repent of our sins, or it might be to enter some serious intercessory prayer for our nation or community.

If God’s heart is to reveal how He sees our condition and the inevitable consequences, then surely, we need to take this very seriously. How amazing that the God who created the heavens and the earth desires to speak to us today in 2024 to warn us how our actions will affect our future! His desire is to speak, to help and to draw us into a deeper relationship with Him if we will only listen.