God shows us different sides of his character fitting with the behavior of his people. His character never changes, even though the sides we see may differ – he is the same God in both the Old and New Testaments.
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Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada and I’m so excited that it’s almost a new year!
I always get excited the last week of the year because on the first of January Ken and I begin our chronological read through the Bible together, and lots of friends like you will be joining us. My husband and I love this tradition because when you read through the Bible chronologically, you really get a flow for God’s redemptive story through the ages. You learn to love the Old Testament. You begin to see omens and hints that foreshadow Jesus Christ; you see them in the pages of Genesis or the Psalms, in Isaiah, the books of Moses, and so much more. You also learn about the character of God, especially in the minor prophets. Like in the book of Amos.
Amos was a humble shepherd from the village of Tekoa; this fellow was plucked out of the sheep pen by the Lord to go pronounce judgment against all of Israel’s neighbors – Moab, Ammon, and Edom. So, why would anyone listen to a mere shepherd? Well, the people from the little town of Tekoa, just south of Bethlehem, were famous for the way they had built up the walls of Jerusalem during the time of Nehemiah, and so, when Amos spoke, everyone listened! Now, the judgments that Amos pronounced were not only against Israel’s ruthless neighbors, but against God’s own people. The Lord was so exasperated, so fed up with his rebellious people of his, that he was ready to devastate everyone’s crops with a swarm of locusts. And when you read the book of Amos, God seems to come across as impatient and hot-headed. But just as you hear locusts swarming in the distance, just when Amos sees that Israel is about to be wiped out, the prophet pleads with God to stop the judgment, stop the locusts, please forgive your people!
So how did God reply to Amos? Well, it says, “The Lord relented. ‘This will not happen,’” he says in Amos 7:3. Okay, so, what, God seems to cave in and have a change of heart – how can that be? He’s God. Did he repent in the sense of deciding one thing yesterday and then another today? That can’t be, because God knows everything from the beginning, including how he will act in all future situations. Did he have a change of opinion? No, it’s almost blasphemous to speak of God having an opinion about anything – it implies that the Lord makes judgment calls without knowing all the facts, or that he goes by mere tastes or whims with no reference to what’s right. So how is it that God “repents?” Well, God shows people different sides of his character fitting with the behavior of his people. His wrath shows itself when people rebel, his kindness when they repent – but it’s kindness that he had all along. It may appear to us that he has relented – and the Bible may use that language so we can grasp the idea – but he has not reconsidered his stance. God uses human metaphors so that we might understand him as best we can. What a gracious thing for God to do – and, yes, thank God he doesn’t have second thoughts about us, right?!
Well, friend, this is the kind of stuff we learn as we read through the Bible every year, and I invite you to join Ken Tada and me when we start in Genesis on January the first. So visit joniradio.org today and sign up for my monthly emails in which I share insights, like this one about Amos. Download your chronological reading schedule by going to joniradio.org. Do it today. Join us. Together, let’s go deeper into the Word of God with Ken and me in the new year. Finally, I want to thank this station for granting me these precious minutes in which I can share hope through your hardship every day.
© Joni and Friends