For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?
– Amos 3:7–8
Wow, there’s so much here in these two verses about the goodness of God. And the love of God, and the ways of God, and the Word of God. And the responsibility of the people of God.
Amos 3:7–8 teaches us that eternal life is not a secret.
So, just to put all that together in short, Amos 3:7 is saying, God does not hide from his people how they can have life, how they can experience life to the full. God reveals who he is, who we are, and how we can experience life. He reveals all these things to us. He doesn’t keep that a secret.
Just think if God did, if we were just wandering in the dark and we had no idea how to experience life today or life forever, if we had no idea who God is or how to understand who we are, the world around us, but this is the beauty of God’s Word. He has revealed himself, he has revealed truth. He has revealed life to us in his Word, and he’s done it specifically. Amos 3:7–8 is talking about this through God’s prophets, through people he speaks to who deliver that word.
So, just think of all the ways these two verses then lead us to pray. Well, let’s just dive in. Instead of me just saying all the ways, let’s do it.
Amos 3:7–8 reminds us to live out what God has revealed.
Oh God, we praise you for your Word. We praise you for not keeping it a secret from us. Who you are and who we are, and how this world works, and how we can have life, eternal life in it.
We praise you as the Lion who has roared, who has spoken. God, thank you for speaking to us. Thank you that each of us today has the privilege of hearing your voice. You speaking to us through your Word. So God, help us to heed your voice. Help us to hear your voice, to listen to it and heed your voice, to live according to it.
God, we pray you and help us to revere your Word, to treasure your Word, to listen to your Word, to meditate on it all day long, and to live, to do according to what is written in it and experience the life you have for us. You desire for us in relationship with you, the Lord God who has spoken to us, who is speaking to us even right now, and oh God, in light of prophets like Amos in the Old Testament, who faithfully heard your Word and spoke it God, we prayed that you would help us as your people today to faithfully hear your word and speak it.
This verse reminds us to share the blessing of God’s Word.
God, help us to spread your Word faithfully, just like Amos did, to hear your Word and to not keep it to ourselves, to speak your Word to others so that they can have life. God, we pray that today you would use our lives to speak your Word into other people’s lives and to other brothers and sisters in Christ, help us to encourage them with your Word today. And God, we pray for people who don’t know you, who don’t know life in you around us today. For friends, for family members, for just anyone we interact with in this world. God, help us to constantly be looking for opportunities to spread your Word, to be bold, to be compassionate, to love people enough to share words of life with them right around us, and God around the world.
Prayer for the Agri People
We pray specifically today for the Agri people of India, for half a million of these Hindu men, women, and children who don’t have your Word, who don’t have the good news of your love for them, who don’t have access to it right now. God, for unreached people like the Agri, please use our lives, your church. Use our families, our resources to make your Word known to them, that they might hear the Lion who has roared and has made a way for them to have eternal life through your Word. Oh God, we praise you for your Word, and we pray that you’d help us to faithfully hear it, head it, and spread it in our neighborhoods and in all the nations. In Jesus’ name, we pray according to your Word in Amos 3:7–8. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
