“He said: The LORD roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds dry up, and the top of Carmel withers.”
~ Amos 1:2
Hi James and Ellen,
The Bible is a big book. The Bible is different than any other book that has ever been written. The Bible is not just one book; it is sixty-six books. Some of the books of the Bible are called letters – like the ones that Paul wrote to different churches. Even though they are letters, they are still books of the Bible. When a book of the Bible was written, it was not written in chapters or in verses. Someone a long time ago divided each book of the Bible into chapters and then into verses. That made it a whole lot easier to remember where a verse was located in the Bible. The Bible is made up of different books that have been accepted as the books that God wrote and which He later had men compile into what you know today as the Bible. The books of the Bible are not all in the order in which they were written. Ask your dad to show you how the Bible works. Ask your dad to find a book called Amos. How long did it take for your dad to find Amos? The books of the Bible were actually written by men – just like your dad or your grandpaa, who were inspired by the Holy Spirit to write them. To be inspired means being led to do something. The Holy Spirit – who is also God, led men like Amos to write a book. When your dad showed you how the Bible works, did he show you how the Bible is divided into parts called testaments? The Bible has two testaments – the Old Testament and the New Testament. In what testament is Amos located? Amos is in the Old Testament. God used all kinds of men to write the books of the Bible. You have already learned a little bit about Moses. Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible. Sometimes a book in the Bible is named after the person who wrote it – such as the book that Amos wrote. Amos is one of the short books that are lumped together at the end of the Old Testament. It sometimes is hard to find Amos – or any of the other short books. These short books have a special name. They are called the Minor Prophets. There are much longer books right before the Minor Prophets. These books are called the Major Prophets. Your grandpaa knows that no one will ever learn everything that is in the Bible. Your grandpaa grew up in a home where the Bible or a devotional about the Bible was read at the end of every meal. Your grandpaa heard sermons preached twice a Sunday for years and years. Your grandpaa went to Sunday school. Your grandpaa went from second grade to eighth grade in a Christian school. Your grandpaa went to a Bible College called Dordt for two years and to Moody Bible Institute for four years. Your grandpaa has read through the Bible a number of times, has studied different things in the Bible and has taught the Bible. The more that your grandpaa opens the book called the Bible – the more he realizes how little he knows about the Bible. The more that your grandpaa reads and studies the Bible the more that he wants to know about the Bible. You are helping your grandpaa by letting him send you these letters to you. You are letting your grandpaa think about the different things that took place in each chapter in each book of the Bible. You are also letting your grandpaa remember and to pass these memories on to you some of things that God has blessed your grandmaa and your grandpaa with over the years.
Even though the book of Amos is listed as one of the Minor Prophets, Amos was not a prophet. Amos was a shepherd. Amos took care of sheep. There is no way to know why God chose Amos. God asked Amos to pass on a message from Him. Has someone ever asked you to pass on a message to someone else? It is easy to pass on a good message. The message that God wanted Amos to pass on was not a good message. God was ticked off big time. That means God was angry. Remember that God had specially chosen some people for Himself. They were the Israelites. Even though the Israelites were not always obedient to God, God would still go out of His way to take care of them. God did not get help from anyone to take care of the Israelites. Instead of getting help from other people, other people were making the Israelites do very wrong things plus they kept beating up on God’s specially chosen people. God is finally saying through Amos – enough is enough. It is not good to get God angry. Amos 1 tells us what God had decided to do to the people living in Damascus, to the people living in Gaza, to the people living in Tyre, to the people living in Edom and to the people living in Ammon. These people had made themselves enemies of God when they did not do anything to help His people group – who were the Israelite people group, who He had chosen for Himself. Amos wrote in verse 2 “He said: The LORD roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; the pastures of the shepherds dry up, and the top of Carmel withers”.
There will always be two groups of people on this earth. There will be one group of people who God chose to be His before He created the world. God cares for these people. There is another group of people on this earth who are not God’s people. These people are the enemy’s people. Who is the enemy in the world? The enemy is Satan. Satan has his people try to have God’s people – like you, be disobedient to God. To be disobedient to God is to do things that you know are wrong to do. We can also be disobedient to God by not doing things which we know God would want us to do – such as reading what He gave us to read in the book called the Bible. Because we are God’s people, we know God will take care of us. Your grandmaa and grandpaa are thankful that God has given them the privilege of telling the people who are living here in Guatemala about the Bible. Your grandmaa and grandpaa have no way of knowing who the people are who Satan is using to mess with God’s chosen people; your grandmaa and grandpaa do know though that these people who Satan uses will never know what it means to be cared for by God.
Amos 1 (13)