Amos 4:1-13: a reflection

1Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!” 2The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness, “Behold, the days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, and the last of you with fish hooks. 3You will go out at the breaks in the wall, everyone straight before her; and you will cast yourselves into Harmon,” says the LORD. 4“Go to Bethel, and sin; to Gilgal, and sin more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days, 5offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim free will offerings and brag about them; for this pleases you, you children of Israel,” says the Lord GOD. 6“I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in every town; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD. 7“I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city. One field was rained on, and the field where it didn’t rain withered. 8So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD. 9“I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards, and the swarming locusts have devoured your fig trees and your olive trees; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD. 10“I sent plagues among you like I did Egypt. I have slain your young men with the sword, and have carried away your horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp, yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD. 11“I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD. 12“Therefore I will do this to you, Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel. 13For, behold, he who forms the mountains, creates the wind, declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the high places of the earth: The LORD, the God of Armies, is his name.”

Through Amos, God recounts a series of hardships he had sent on his people, famine, drought, blight, locust, plague, meant to turn them back to him. And after each one comes the same sorrowful refrain: yet you did not return to me, says the LORD. Again and again, God had used hardship as a summons, calling his people back; and again and again, they had felt the hardship but missed its purpose, and had not returned. The refrain tolls like a bell over a tragic failure to hear.

Notice the purpose behind the hardships, and the tragedy of the refrain. God had not sent the famine and drought merely to punish, but to turn his people back to himself; each hardship was a summons, a call to return. But they did not hear it as a call; they felt the pain, but did not return to God. Yet you did not return to me: the saddest thing was not the hardship, but that it went unheeded, its purpose missed, the summons unanswered.

That refrain is a searching one, for hardships can serve the same purpose in our lives, and we can miss it the same way. God can use the hardships we face as a summons, meant to turn us back to him, to loosen our grip on what we have trusted instead of him, to draw us to himself. But we can feel the hardship and miss its purpose, enduring the pain without letting it turn us back. When hardship comes, do not merely endure it, or ask only how to escape it; ask what God may be calling you to through it, and let it turn you back to him. Do not let the refrain, yet you did not return to me, be true of you. When hardship summons you, answer it; return to God, rather than feeling the pain but missing the call, as Israel felt the hardships but did not return.

Lord, through Amos you recounted the hardships you had sent to turn your people back, famine, drought, blight, plague, and after each came the sorrowful refrain, yet you did not return to me; they felt the pain but missed its purpose. Let that searching refrain reach me, for hardships can serve the same purpose in my life, and I can miss it the same way. You can use the hardships I face as a summons, meant to turn me back to you, to loosen my grip on what I have trusted instead of you, to draw me to yourself. But I can feel the hardship and miss its purpose, enduring the pain without letting it turn me back. When hardship comes, keep me from merely enduring it, or asking only how to escape it; help me ask what you may be calling me to through it, and let it turn me back to you. Do not let the refrain, yet you did not return to me, be true of me. When hardship summons me, help me answer it, and return to you, rather than feeling the pain but missing the call. Help me hear your summons in hardship, Lord, and return to you.