There is evil in the world. And it doesn’t go away because we wish it would or even because we pray about it.”
                    –Henry McLaughlin  (Journey to Riverbend)

      “‘Yet you have not listened to Me,’ says the LORD, ‘that you might provoke Me to anger with words of your hands to your own hurt.”
                    –Jeremiah 25:8 (NKJV)
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Remember, Amos is from Judah, preaching in Israel.  I can imagine the people cheering, yelling, “Amen” with a few “Hallelujahs” thrown in.  (Side note:  I have wondered many times when people shout “Amen” in a service and my question is “why”?  Hmmm).  The people of Israel are thinking that God is finally going to get their enemies.  Doom is coming, they are thinking with a grin.
     Then Amos turns and looks southward towards Judah.  Pointing his finger in that direction he pronounces, “Thus says the LORD:  ‘For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment…” (2:4).   “Time” magazine ran an article several years ago in which it was said, “Everyone says it’s only human nature to despise one’s neighbors” (Ogilvie, “Mastering the Old Testament”).  But who is our neighbor?  Amos has now moved from Gentile nations to Jews.  Lloyd Ogilvie points out the shift in the sins.  They have switched from sins of humanity to sins against God.  They have committed “covenant disobedience.”  They followed after “fakes” rather than trusting only in the Lord.
     God will not hold back His punishment.  “The point is that Yahweh considered covenant disloyalty, idolatry, and apostasy as serious as the crimes of inhuman cruelty, slavery, killing of unborn children, and the desecration of the bones of the dead.” (Ogilvie)  Warren Wiersbe puts it this way that because they were following lies, “They were wandering like lost animals and like drunken men.”
     Look at the transgressions of Judah:  “…Because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept His commandments.  Their lies lead them astray, lies which their fathers followed.” (2:4)  They were breaking God’s commandments and regulations concerning worship and life.  “They exchanged the truth for lies, and then believed their own lies in going far astray from the path in life which God had assigned to them.” (Peter Craigie)
     Freedom, yes, and thank God for that freedom, not only politically but spiritually as well, but do not forget that with freedom comes responsibilities.  It would do the preachers, the bureaucrats, and the citizens of this country to take again to heart the words of John Winthrop, “As a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us.  So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world.”
     We cannot doubt that America has been blessed as no other country.  Yet, now, where are we in our thinking and living?  “Judah had been granted great privilege, but also great responsibility.  The privilege brought with it a certain freedom, but it was not a freedom to abandon the faith.” (Craigie)  America has been granted great privilege and like Judah, our blessings and freedom, does not give us the freedom to abandon the faith–the Truth.  Judah (as America) turned from God, “to walk as heathens walked.” (Albert Garner).
     There comes a point when God says, “I will not turn away its punishment.”  Even with repentance there are often consequences.  Paul tells us, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting.” (Romans 1:28, NKJV)  Note how other versions translate, “debased” –worthless, depraved, useless, defective, and the familiar reprobate.  Look now at the thinking of this country–do any of those descriptions fit the thinking of our leadership?  Also, look at a couple of “woes” from Isaiah 5:  “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!  Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!” (5:20-21, NKJV)
     “Ah,” you say, “but all we have to do is repent.”  But have we gone too far?  The words of Solomon are indeed fearful:
          24 — Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded,
          25 — Because you disdained all my counsel, and would have none of my rebuke,
          26 — I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes,
          27 — When your terro comes like a storm, and your destruction comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.
          28 — Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me.
          29 — Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD,
          30 — They would have none of my counsel and despised my every rebuke.
          31 — Therefore they shall eat the fruit of their own way, and be filled to the full with their own fancies.
          32 — For the turning away of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.”  
                           –Proverbs 1:24-32, NKJV)
“For three transgressions of Judah (United States), and for four, I will not turn away its punishment.”

Somewhere, sometime a man had to take a stand.”
                    –Louis L’Amour  (Dark Canyon)

       “He has said in his heart, ‘I shall not be moved; I shall never be in adversity.'”
                    –Psalm 10:6 (NKJV)
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I’ve seen some of the highest peaks in the Colorado while hiking, fishing, and hunting.  They are an awesome sight in the grandeur, but they can’t hold a candle to the glory of the Lord as He comes from Mount Zion.  As you’ve seen the devastation the past couple of weeks, perhaps you’re feeling a little insecure.  If so, then Psalm 125 is one you should read and contemplate.

          1 — Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever.
          2 — As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds His people from this time forth and forever.
          3 — For the scepter of wickedness shall not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, lest the righteous reach out their hands to iniquity.
          4 — Do good, O LORD, to those who are good, and to those who are upright in their hearts.
          5 — As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways, the LORD shall lead them away with the workers of iniquity.  Peace be upon Israel!  (NKJV)

     Ponder this Psalm; think it through.  As a believer we are not immune to calamity and disasters and that includes: earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, disease, fires, accidents and so many other things.  However!  If we truly trust in the Lord we cannot be moved.  When we have done all to stand, we remain standing.  It was Martin Luther who said, “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.  It is so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times.”  When things look hopeless–they are not for God is there.  Our part is to trust in Him.
     The writer of this psalm must also have thought that the country was in trouble in regards to leadership.  The country was controlled by a foreign power.  Evil had the upper hand and it seems as if some of the faithful were beginning to waver in their faith.  When we look at our current government and the political situation we can become disheartened and feel like hope is ebbing away.  Not so, the Lord surrounds us, look to Him, and realize that in the midst of it all, He will do good.  
     Let me use the words of George Wood in summarizing this Psalm:
          1)  What shakes you up will not shake you apart.
          2)  Nothing can penetrate God’s inner ring of protection for you.  
          3)  Watch for the good God will do.
          4)  Bad times must not become an excuse for bad conduct.  It’s important to continue living right when everything is going wrong.
I think of that last admonition.  Eighty percent of the time in movies and television when something bad goes wrong people head for the booze.  “I need a drink,” they say.  No, they need the Lord, the last thing they need is a drink!  Turn to God; in His mercy He will protect and and not allow His people to participate in evil.

               “When I tread the verge of Jordan,
               Bid my anxious fears subside;
               Death of death, and hell’s destruction,
               Land me safe on Canaan’s side:
               Songs of praises, I will ever give to thee.”
                       –William Williams

Value is not in the material it’s made of, but what it represents.”
                    –Cliff Hudgins  (Viejo and the Hunted Ranger)

       “Ill-gotten treasures have no lasting value, but righteousness delivers from death.”

Be careful a’ signs, as some signs is better ‘n others.”
                    –J.V. James  (Fyre)

       “For it is God who is at work within you, giving you the will and the power to achieve his purpose.”