“And he said, The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the habitations of the shepherds shall mourn, and the top of Carmel shall wither” (Amos 1:2)
TEXT — Amos 1:2
Message
There is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo taken in 1993 during the Sudan famine. The picture depicts a famine-stricken child, crawling towards a United Nations food camp, located a kilometre away. The vulture is waiting for the child to die, so that it can eat it. This picture shocked the whole world. No one knows what happened to the child, including the photographer, Kevin Carter, who left the place as soon as the photograph was taken. Three months later, he committed suicide due to depression arising from the guilt of his inaction. Most people who saw the picture of a helpless child, expected the photographer to have spared a few minutes to rescue the child from apparent danger. Our world needs urgent rescue today from the current economic situation, with ripple effects ravaging the nations.
Amos was a country farmer and herdsman. His name signifies “burdened”. The Jews say he was so called, because he was burdened in his tongue, or had an impediment in his speech, and stammered. More appropriately too, his prophecies were burdens to Israel’s northern kingdom. These prophecies were such as they could not bear, being full of reproofs and threatening; which, in this respect, agrees with his name. Prophet Amos was sent to reprove Israel for their sins, to exhort them to repentance, and threaten them with captivity, in case of impenitence; and to comfort the truly godly with promises of the Messiah’s coming and the unveiling of His kingdom. In the few verses under consideration, he first foretells a drought in the land of Israel, in the most fruitful places, which would cause mourning among the shepherds; then the captivity of the Syrians, whose metropolis was Damascus. Next, he outlines the destruction of the Philistines, whose principal cities were Gaza, Ashdod, Askelon, and Ekron.
Today, our world faces a growing array of challenges that present both opportunities and threats to our societies’ prosperity. Looking at this on the surface, we may conclude that these difficulties stem from a range of technological, social, political, demographic, and environmental factors. While some issues are unique to a specific region or country, as the inter-connectivity among economies continues to increase, the well-being of one economy has increasingly important implications for others. Owing to the current insensitivity to the things of God, we hardly can see the hand of God in the current challenges facing us. We fail to recognise that the more the world drifts from godly principles and instructions, the more we face droughts. It is wisdom, therefore, for the prudent to take heed before drowning in the endless seas of earthly pestilences and famines.
Thought for the day
When we pay heed to the voice of God, He heals our land richly
Listed among “500 most powerful people on the planet” by the Foreign Policy magazine in 2013, Pastor (Dr.) William F. Kumuyi is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Christian Life Ministry (DCLM) headquartered in Lagos, Nigeria. DCLM started in 1973 as a 15-member Bible study group right in Kumuyi’s apartment at University of Lagos where he was a lecturer. His revolutionary Bible teaching on personal holiness and commitment to evangelism soon gained so much traction and resulted in a widespread revival.
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Please refrain from mentioning topics like suicide where possible in the daily manna. It could have a negative effect on some as found in the story in today’s study.
Please refrain from mentioning topics like suicide where possible in the daily manna. It could have a negative effect on some as found in the story in today’s study.