AMOS 8:9-10 THE DAY

9 “In that day,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight. 10 I will turn your religious feasts into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.

The effect of the divine judgment upon the Israelites is depicted here. Just as the wicked overturn the moral order of the universe, so will the Lord, with His judgment, break through the order of nature, cause the sun to go down at noon, and envelope the earth in darkness in clear day (F. Delitzsch and C. F. Keil, Commentary on the Old Testament).

When we begin losing perspective in our lives because of some personal anxiety, we are often given a verbal slap in the face to wake us up to reality and our place in it. Usually it is stated in the form, in spite of your condition “the sun will rise tomorrow.” Such a statement belies our security in the natural order of things that borders on presumption. Even in the church we live as if this world is all there is, and therefore lose sight of God. We also tend to understand God according to the way in which we think rather than according to the way he has revealed himself. When these two attitudes come together, we live our lives as if judgment is not a reality. It is as if the serpent is constantly whispering in our inner ear, “God didn’t really mean that.”

The message of Scripture cannot be more clear. God has given us the choice as to whether or not we will demonstrate our love for him through obedience to his will. In his farewell discourse, Moses told the Israelites:

15 “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. 16 For I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, 18 I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed” (Deuteronomy 30:15-18).

We are given a choice, and with that choice comes the responsibility for the decision we make. After a choice to disobey God comes judgment, whether we like it or not.

Father, thank you for creating me with a free will so that I can love you and know your love for me. Keep me from misusing that gift and empower me to confess and repent when I transgress, so that on this day and every day I will live under liberating obedience and not the wrath of judgment. Amen.