How many sermons have you heard preached from the book of Amos? Not many? Me neither.
While I spent some time reading this morning in the book of Amos, my heart was greatly encouraged. One simple verse jumped off the page with words of inspiration, hope and conviction.
For the LORD is the one who shaped the mountains, stirs up the winds, and reveals his thoughts to mankind. He turns the light of dawn into darkness and treads on the heights of the earth. The LORD God of Heaven’s Armies is his name! Amos 4:13
If you’re not careful, you can read through this verse and miss some pretty amazing things to consider. As I read, I felt God whispering to my heart, “Slow down, don’t miss this. Be encouraged.”
I re-read the verse slowly as I wrote it in my journal.
The LORD is the one who shaped the mountains.
The LORD is the one who stirs up the winds.
Here’s something pretty cool to think about… The mountains are pretty hard miss. But the wind is invisible.
Consider this, He is over what’s hard to miss and He is over what’s hard to see. In the seen and the unseen, His power is over all things.
He is over what’s hard to miss and He is over what’s hard to see.
Whether it’s the mountain in front of you that seems too overwhelming to face let alone climb, or it’s the thing you don’t even know or understand that is happening in your life or heart. God is over it. It is under His control!
To expound on His majesty, we can look further at another verse that follows – Amos 5:8 says,
8He who made the Pleiades and Orion,
who turns midnight into dawn
and darkens day into night,
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the land—
the Lord is his name.
I thought to myself, “Tammy, when you think about God, when you pray to Him, do you remember that He made the stars? That He causes the sun to rise? That He controls the sea and makes the rain?”
“He is no little God! Have you made Him too little?”
He is no little God! Have you made Him too little?
Already my heart was encouraged that the challenges I presently face are under the control of my Great and Mighty God!
But God pressed me to look further.
Let’s look at the next phrase.
It says, and reveals his thoughts to mankind.
Wait! Hold the train! THIS GOD! This GOD we just discussed reveals His thoughts to us! How often do I pursue His thoughts on any given matter?!?
How about you? Have you pursued His thoughts on your present situation?
Before I go further here, I want to say that as I looked at the original text and at some commentaries on this verse, I uncovered two perspectives on this part of the passage.
1 – God reveals His thoughts to those who ask, to those who are His own, because His Spirit is abiding in them.
AND
2- God reveals to man that He knows man’s thoughts. In fact, God knows our thoughts before we think them.
So which perspective is accurate? Well, He does both.
God reveals His thoughts –
9That is what the Scriptures mean when they say,
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
for those who love him.”
10But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets. 11No one can know a person’s thoughts except that person’s own spirit, and no one can know God’s thoughts except God’s own Spirit. 12And we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the wonderful things God has freely given us.
1 Cor. 2:9-12
God reveals our thoughts –
1O LORD, you have examined my heart
and know everything about me.
2You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
3You see me when I travel
and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
4You know what I am going to say
even before I say it, LORD.
5You go before me and follow me.
You place your hand of blessing on my head.
6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too great for me to understand! Psalm 139:1-6 (emphasis mine)
Now lets look at the next phrase…
He turns the light of dawn into darkness and treads on the heights of the earth.
Once again we see His power and His greatness.
First, one thing that is certain for those who live on earth is that when we go to bed at night, we expect the sun to rise in the morning and it does. It always has. That power comes from God and this verse expresses He has the same power to exchange the dawn with darkness. Basically, He has power over even what seems like a constant to us.
I’ve had people say to me, “God can’t change this…it’s the way it’s always been. It’s the way I guess it will always be.” Not so.
Second, He treads on the heights of the earth. Let’s get a visual here. Many of you know that, at 29.029 feet, Mount Everest is the highest point on earth above sea level.
We are told that God treads on the heights of the earth. So Everest is under His feet.
WOW.
The final phrase says, the Lord God of Heaven’s Armies is His name.
What this means is that He is Commander of the mightiest of armies, the One able to defeat any foe.
He is making Himself known to us.
He is making His power available to us.
And He is giving us victory.
What does this mean for you today friend? That battle you face – whether it’s a battle raging within that you can’t even understand or a battle without that seems it may swallow you up – God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, offers you His wisdom and His strength.
Do you know Him?
Have you surrendered your life to Him?
Have you sought Him in what you’re facing right now?
Let us not be foolish and seek our own remedy.
Let us not be timid to ask for His help.
Let us not be forgetful about who this God is that we serve.
Let us not lose hope, for HE is the God of Heaven’s Armies.
In closing, I want to share an excerpt from Streams in the Desert from Valentines Day – how fitting.
Streams In The Desert – February 14th
Do you believe that your heavenly Father will let you carry the banner of His victory and joy to the very front of the battle only to calmly withdrawal to see you captured or beaten back by the enemy? NEVER!
Seek God for the answers you need. Ask Him to reveal to you His thoughts in your struggle and to lead you to Victory. Because THAT’S the God we serve!
If you want to learn more about how you can know God in a personal way, e-mail me at tammy@lifehousede.com.
