Introduction: Years ago I had a member of my Bible class ask me,
“What is the good of prayer? If God is going to do what is best for
us anyway (whether we want it or not), why pray? My answer then had
to do with prayer changing us and releasing God’s power. However,
this week we explore the idea of something quite different – the
prayer of Amos changes God’s mind! Or, does it? How can changing
God’s mind be consistent with a God who is all wise and all knowing?
Let’s dive into our lesson and see what we can learn about this
aspect of prayer.
- Locusts
- Read Amos 7:1-3. Notice that Amos describes the Lord as
the “Sovereign” Lord. What does “sovereign” mean? (“All
powerful.” The Hebrew here (“Adonay”) gives emphasis to
the word “Lord.” Amos is emphasizing the power of God.) - Why would Amos decide to emphasize God’s power in the
context of God changing His mind? (Because Amos wants
us to see the contrast between the power of God to do
anything He decides and God’s willingness to listen
to us. God does not listen to us because He needs our
help to decide things. God listens to us because of
His grace.) - We have a new element introduced in this chapter.
Amos has previously been telling the people what God
told him. (See, for example, Amos 2:1) But, now Amos
is “shown” something by God. What does this suggest?
(That Amos is now having visions.) - What does Amos see in his vision? (He sees locusts
coming and “strip[ping] the land clean.”) - How serious is the coming locust disaster? (Verse 2:
The survival of the nation is in doubt.) - What is the “king’s share?” (Income taxes!
Aren’t you glad God planned to wipe out the
wealth of the people after they had paid their
taxes?) - Is there significance to the fact that the
king gets his share while the common
people face disaster? (Remember last week
(and before) the thread running through
Amos that the rich and the rulers are in
for trouble because they have been
unjustly treating the poor. Here, the
disaster seems aimed at the “ordinary
guy.” This tends to show that the
disregard of God was widespread and not
just an “upper-class” thing.) - Changing God?
- Amos 7:3 tells us that “the Lord relented.” What causes
God to relent? (Amos asked God to “forgive” and argued
that the nation could not survive this.) - How do you explain that an all-knowing, all-wise God
changes His mind? - Read Numbers 23:19. How can you square this text with
Amos 7:3? - Read James 1:17. How do you square this text with
Amos 7:3? - Let’s back away from this difficult question for a few
moments. What good things do you see from God “relenting?”
(1. We learn our prayers can make a difference. 2. Our
future is in the hands of a God who listens and who cares.
We can have a personal relationship with God that can
change things. 3. We can (and should) pray for others
because our prayers can change the future.) - Read Amos 7:4-6. If you were a farmer in Judah, what
difference might you see between disaster from locusts and
disaster from fire? (You might pass the locusts off as bad
luck, a “hiccup” of nature. Fire, on the other hand, is
clearly Divine judgment. This fire is so hot it “dries up
the deep.” We are going to look at the “fire” vision in
more detail next week.) - Again we have God “relenting.” God has now relented
twice. How do you explain this? (We are back to our
tough question. I start from the point that we must
accept all Scripture as truth and look for a “common”
explanation. Since we learned that God does not
change His mind, we must reconcile that with this
text about relenting. Remember that these are
visions. They have not yet happened. God seems to be
entering into a “discussion” with Amos about how to
best get the people to turn back to God. God shows
Amos what could happen, and Amos responds that this
is too harsh. So, God agrees. God has not changed His
mind, He has entered into a dialog with Amos on what
to do.) - Does God need to discuss these things with Amos?
Does God need advice? - Some people find the book of Amos troubling.
What do you think troubles others about this
book? What troubles you most about the book of
Amos? (The book of Amos, on the surface, is a
“gloom and doom and judgment” book. I’ve heard
about teachers who have all sorts of rules that
the students think are too harsh. I’ve also
heard of teachers who have the students make up
the rules. When the students make the rules,
they are pretty strict. The difference is that
the students who make the rules have a better
attitude about them. This is somewhat like what
is happening here. This is how God shows His
love and mercy. He shows Amos what could happen,
and when Amos says that is too harsh, God says,
“OK, I’ll do what you agree is better.” This
seems to be for the benefit of Amos, not God. It
is Amos’ mind that is being worked on, not God’s
mind.) - Intercessor
- When you think of Amos standing before God in His vision
saying “forgive” (v.2) and “I beg you stop” (v.5) what
other Bible figure comes to mind? (In Hebrews 7:22-27
Jesus is pictured as our “High Priest” who “lives to
intercede” for us. Because of His intercession He saves us
if we repent and accept Him.) - Can you think of other “intercessors” in the
Bible?(Consider Genesis 18:20-33 where we find Abraham
“negotiating” with God over the number of “righteous
people” that would save Sodom from destruction.) - Is it possible for God to work with you, just like He did
with Amos, about the future of others? - Read 1 John 5:16. I do not completely understand this
verse, but I don’t think we need to today. What does
this suggest is your authority as an intercessor?
(This clearly tells us that we should pray for
others. It suggests that there is an area of sin in
which God will certainly act on our requests.) - Friend, our study in Amos shows that God is personally,
intimately involved in our lives. He wants to work with us
for our salvation and for the salvation of others. He also
calls on us to have that same attitude towards others. To
be part of the team that intercedes for the salvation of
others. Will you be a part of this team? - Next Week: Vision Two – Judgment by Fire
