Amos 4:12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.
My grandfather used to tell a story about his father, William Rice, who had been a cowboy and a lay preacher. In Decatur, Texas, where my grandfather grew up, his family had a big backyard where they kept a couple of cows. One day, my grandfather was trying to get one of the cows to go into the barn, and the cow would not go. My grandfather, who was just a kid at the time, was pulling on the cow. His dad saw the trouble he was having and said, “Bill, let me take that.” He began pulling on the cow.
Then, something happened, maybe the rope snapped, where he lost contact with the cow and –wham- he sat down on his pockets in the dusty coral. That kind of provoked him. He had been trying to get Bossy to move and she stubbornly would not move. Well, he jumped up, kicked her where he thought it might do most good, and said, “Get in that barn.” Well, that is exactly what she did.
In Amos 4, God is addressing His own people who were liked pampered cows. They were well fed, well protected, and they felt like nothing wrong could happen to them. They were living a life of disregard for God. That was the last thing they should have done because God was anything but indifferent towards them. God had sent them judgment time after time to correct them, not because He hated them, but because He loved them. God says, “For this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the LORD God.” He is saying, “You are self-deceived and left to your own devices.”
In subsequent verses God tells all that He had done. He says, “I also have given you cleanness of teeth… yet have ye not returned unto me.” They had been hungry but had not returned to God. He says, “And also I have withholden the rain from you… but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me.” He continues, “I have smitten you with blasting and mildew… yet have ye not returned unto me…. I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt… yet have ye not returned unto me… I have overthrown some of you… yet have ye not returned unto me.” In other words, calamity after calamity had come, but they didn’t pay any attention.
Verse 12 famously says, “Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God, O Israel.” Later, He was called the “God of hosts,” meaning “God of the great army.” Now, it is not likely that today you are going to have a locust plague on your farm, if you even have a farm. It probably doesn’t matter to you if it rains or not. It is not likely that some invading horde of pagans will come with their army and chariots to surround your home. But, there is no doubt that when we belong to God, God cares about us too much to let us go our own way. God is going to send judgment. Again, this is not because He hates us, but precisely because He loves us.
So, the point of Amos 4 is that when we are unyielding to God’s correction, He does not lose. God will win. He says, “I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.” Did Sodom and Gomorrah flaunt God? No, not forever. He reminds them of the plagues upon Egypt. Did Egypt get by with their disregard of God Jehovah? No! So how much less will God’s own people get by with disregarding God?
We look around the world today and worry about how the people who don’t even know God are living. At least they are honest. They are doing in practice what they are in position. They don’t know God. But if you know God, it makes sense not to be unyielding like some stubborn cow. When we are unyielding to God’s correction, He does not lose. Our refusal to surrender means that we do. At the end of the day, in His own timing and in His own way, God will win and the wise person is a person who is not stubborn towards God’s direction.