“For behold, He who forms the mountains and creates the wind and declares to man what is his thought. Who makes the morning darkness and treads on the heights of the earth, the Lord, the God of hosts is His name.”
– Amos 4:13
When I read this Amos 4:13, I think about how we in McLean Bible Church talk about praying and meditating on God’s Word, we use an acrostic called MAPS. M is Meditate and Memorize, A is Apply. P is Pray. S is Share. You can find all this at Radical.net. But that P for PRAY and we have another acrostic there that we use to Praise God according to His word, to Repent according to His word, our A to Ask according to His word, to intercede in different ways, according to God’s word. Then Y to Yield our lives to God’s Word in prayer.
Amos 4:13 Reminds Us God Has Authority
God has created the mountains and the wind and he has authority over everything.
When I think about MAPS and PRAY, and I read Amos 4:13, this verse just leads me to P in PRAY to praise, worship God for who He is. I want to lead us to do that. Just listen again to this verse. We’re going to let it lead us to praise and worship God for who He is. We’re just going to praise Him. As we pray, according to Amos 4:13.
“For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind and declares to man what is his thought. Who makes the morning darkness and treads on the heights of the earth. The Lord, the God of hosts is his name.”
This Verse Leads Us to Praise God
Oh God, you are the Lord. You are the God of hosts of heavenly armies. We worship you and adore you. We exalt you and praise you. Also, we shout praise and glory and honor belong to you alone. You are our God. We love you with our heart and soul and mind and strength. There is no one like you. There is no one as beautiful, majestic, holy, awesome as you are. And there is no God, but you. You formed the mountains. Think about the mountains. Think about the Himalayan landscape. You formed them all with your hand.
You, Oh God, create the wind. When the wind blows it is doing so at your bidding. We worship you when we feel the wind on our faces because you created that wind. You have authority over it. You declare to man what is his thought and You know our every thought. As well as, You are omniscient, all-knowing. There is nothing you don’t know. We know so little. You know everything. You never discover anything. God, we praise you for your infinite, all-encompassing knowledge.
You make the morning darkness. Oh God, you are the reason the sun rises in the morning. You are the reason why it sets in the evening. And you determine the course of the planets. Our world rotates according to your sovereign direction. You tread on the heights of our world, the heights of the Earth.
This Verse Leads Us to Thank God for His Love
Oh God, you are majestic like no other. You are our creator. You are our King and Lord. Oh God, You are our God and we worship you. We love the fact that we know you. That you know us. That you love us. You in all your majesty love me. Each one of us.
You sent your son to die on a cross for us, that we might be reconciled to you to enjoy your worship for all of eternity. Yes. To enjoy your worship. We enjoy worshiping you. We find delight in fearing and revering your name and exalting you for all of your attributes. And we praise you according to your Word. In Jesus’s name. 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.
