“You only have I known of all the families of the earth. Therefore, I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
– Amos 3:2
As we hear this verse, I want to encourage us to think about what God is saying to His people, His special people, the people of Israel in Amos 3 verse 2. He starts by saying, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” This goes all the way back to Genesis chapter 12 when God took the initiative and His grace and His mercy to call Abraham to be the father of His people Israel. Think about Deuteronomy chapter 7, describing God’s love and affection for this group of people, this family of people in a way that was different from all the families of the earth. They received His grace, His revelation, His promises in ways that no one else did.
Amos 3:2 Narrates God’s Punishment of Unfaithful Stewardship
And from the beginning, God had made clear, “I want you to be the conduit of my blessing to all the families, all the peoples of the earth.” But that’s just it. Here in Amos 3:2 after God talks about how he’s known them alone, only out of all the families of the earth in this way, but they have sinned against Him. They’ve turned and rebelled against Him. They’ve not only rejected His blessing and forgotten Him, but they have neglected to be the conduit of His blessing to the nations. And God is holding them in a special way, an extra way, in a sense responsible for this. It’s the same principle we see taught by Jesus in the New Testament that who much is given, much is required.
And I just want to encourage every one of us as followers of Jesus right now to pause and realize what special grace and mercy and love we have been shown, and to praise God for this, the same time to realize that to whom much is given, much is required, that we have been entrusted with much grace. We want to be faithful stewards of the grace we’ve been given.
Amos 3:2 Should Lead Us to Repentance of Unfaithful Stewardship
So God, we praise you for your grace in our lives. I praise you for your abundant mercy in my life. We praise you for the gospel. We praise you that we’ve been reached with the gospel. God, we praise you that we’ve been saved, that we’re your children, that we’re your sons and your daughters, that we have an inheritance in heaven that will last forever, that we have no fear of death. And that on top of all of those things, most of us who are listening to this right now have no concern about whether or not we’ll have clean water today or enough food or shelter over our head, or care for our medical needs or access to education.
God, you have been so gracious to us in ways that we can so easily take for granted. Don’t let us do that. God, we praise you for your goodness and your grace in our lives, and we pray in light of Amos 3:2 that you would help us to faithfully steward this grace you’ve given us. Help us to faithfully steward the material, physical gifts you’ve given to us. God, we pray that you would help us to steward our money and our possessions and our health and our education, all that we have for the spread of your goodness and your grace and your mercy to others in the world. God, help us to be a conduit of your blessing today. Help us to be a reflection of your character to others today.
Make us Discontent
God, as we think about 3 billion people in the world who don’t even have access to the gospel, we confess, we have not been good stewards of the gospel you’ve given to us. We’ve not been a conduit of your blessing to the nations. God make us totally discontent with 3 billion people not having the gospel. And use our lives, all of our lives, not just some of us, all of us, our prayers and our giving, and our going. Help us to make disciples of all the nations. God, we pray for that to be a reality in our lives today, help us to make disciples of the nations you’ve brought around us for the nations, from wherever we live. And God, we pray that you would use our lives to spread the gospel to people who’ve never heard it before.
Praying for the Alawite People of Syria
We pray for the Alawite people of Syria. One and a half million of them, hardly any followers of Jesus. Most of them have no access to the gospel in this Muslim people group. God, help us steward your grace for the spread of the gospel to the Alawite people and others like them. God, we praise you for your grace. Help us to be faithful stewards today and tomorrow and as long as you give us grace. Help us be faithful stewards, for the spread of your glory around us and far from us in the world. In Jesus’ name we pray according to Amos 3:2. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
