Running from or Resting in God
Flight shall perish from the swift. (Amos 2:14)
Amos 2:6-16, 9:2; Deut. 4:39; Ps. 139:7-12; Prov. 15:3; Jer. 23:23-24; Rom. 2:3
What Is God Saying?
Amos was a layman truly called by God! He had two occupations, both of them humble. He followed sheep across the hillsides southeast of Jerusalem and he dressed sycamore trees. He had no religious training. He was not enrolled in a school of the prophets. He had no credentials as a priest. He was an unlikely candidate, but God has often taken a liking to the unlikely. They do His bidding with less quibbling. They live simply and speak plainly. Amos was God's man for this hour.
He traveled the 22 miles from Tekoa to Bethel, the religious capital of the north, where the King's sanctuary still had on display the two golden calves set up by Jeroboam I. Amos went where he was needed. Confident of his true calling, he went there without fear. Every chapter (1-5) opens with ‘Thus says the Lord’ or ‘Hear this word.’ The message comes loud and clear. First, there is God's judgment on six heathen nations. Then the spotlight rests on Judah. Next, Amos tells Israel that God has them marked for punishment and doom. The response is anger and resentment.
Amos says that privilege must be accompanied by responsibility. Israel had taken the privileges and forsaken the responsibilities. God was displeased. Israel is not clever enough to find a way out. Israel is not fast enough to get away from nor strong enough to stand up against the judgment of God (7:14).
How Does This Apply To Us?
Have we ever tried to get away from God? Have we become lost in a busy round of duties or pleasures intended to keep God at arm's length? Have we, perhaps, shown a nominal interest in spiritual things like attending church and going through the motions of a religious life? Is it just a facade? Does our real agenda leave out God? Do we hurry on to other activities where we will not be constantly reminded that Jesus is Lord? In a word, do we try to get away from God? No use! ‘Flight shall perish from the swift.’ God is inescapable. He is at the end of our swiftest, farthest flight. So let us rest in Him and not run from Him.
Pray With Me
O God, it is foolish and impossible to fly from Your presence. ‘If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Thy hand shall lead me and Thy right hand shall hold me.’ Halt these flying feet. Hold this willful heart. By the authority of Your never-yielding love cause all flight to perish. As I reflect on the willfulness of my spirit, I am aware that flying on swift feet has become a practiced art, a settled habit, and even a source of pride. Others may not be swift enough to elude the grip of justice. They may lack the agility to dodge the arrows of conscience. But as for me...
Now, dear Lord, let the knowledge that I can never run fast enough or far enough to out-distance Your love cause all flight to perish from my heart. Let the running cease and the resting begin. As You are the end, and way beyond the end, of my swiftest flight, so be with me in the midst of these flying days. Even now let the peace of eternity govern all my goings. I have run in pride, now let me walk in humility. I have fled in fear, now let me hold on in trust. I have sought to avoid You by swift escape, now let me embrace You by swift obedience. Then, O Lord, I will discover with great joy that swift as evil is to accuse and to destroy, You are swifter to justify and to save. My hope once lay in my flight from You. Now, O loving God, my hope lies in Your flight to me.
In the wonderful grace of Jesus Christ, Your beloved Son. Amen.
Moving On In The Life of Prayer
God cannot be outdistanced by our running nor can He be ignored in our busy schedules. Prayer is the choicest time, the greatest privilege, the most meaningful appointment of any day. Prayer is waiting upon God. It is the time when all flight perishes and all the promises of God come alive—when our running away stops and our resting in God's goodness begins.
