“Do two walk together,
unless they have agreed to meet?
Does a lion roar in the forest,
when he has no prey?
Does a young lion cry out from his den,
if he has taken nothing?
Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth,
when there is no trap for it?
Does a snare spring up from the ground,
when it has taken nothing?
Is a trumpet blown in a city,
and the people are not afraid?
Does disaster come to a city,
unless the Lord has done it?
“For the Lord God does nothing
without revealing his secret
to his servants the prophets.
The lion has roared;
who will not fear?
The Lord God has spoken;
who can but prophesy?” Amos 3:3-8
Amos the prophet was a recipient of messages from God. As the Lord spoke to him, so he would proclaim. What occurred in nature was at God’s behest and in His rhythms of cause and effect. All men did would cause a result, and all God said would come to pass. Amos announced judgment on Israel’s neighbors for their transgressions, proving holy God’s necessary response to their apostasy, and in doing so admonished them for their own straying from God’s covenant into indulgence, injustice, and insincere worship. The Lord had reached out in the mercies of blessing and miseries to call them back to Himself, but they refused to turn. Unless they returned to Him, He would reject them. (Amos 4:6-13; 5:12-15)
God’s word is practical and instructive, a goad for our hearts. In creating the heavens and earth, He implemented cause and effect. Action begets reaction, and sin begets consequence. From gravity to spinning planets to orbits to tides and the stages of the moon and seasons, push and pull, up and down, cold and shivering, heat and sweating, all are created by God to show forth His grand design. Just as His own word never goes forth without accomplishing its purpose, all we do and say has effect. (Isaiah 55:10-11)
The Lord speaks, not in a vacuum, but to unfold His character and purpose. How seriously do we hear and heed His warnings about the consequences of our choices? What are we contemplating, doing, and saying without considering the effect it has on our own souls, others, God’s reputation? How might assessing the effect of our words, tone of voice, procrastination, impatience, indulgences, spiritual disciplines, bear out in changed priorities and decisions?
What has the Lord spoken, allowed, or done that causes us to resist His intended purpose? What suffering are we wasting? What truth do we avoid, or conviction ignore? How welcoming and open am I to the change the Lord’s word can effect in me, and the glorious, redemptive fruit it can bear?
“How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
is laid for your faith in God’s excellent Word!
What more can be said than to you God hath said,
to you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?
“Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
for I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
upheld by my righteous, omnipotent hand.” ~R. Keen (1787)
Father, keep me alert to my actions so every consequence magnifies You.
As the rain and snow 