If It Looks Like a Duck

Amos 3:3-8

3 “Do two walk together, unless they have agreed to meet?

4 Does a lion roar in the forest, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out from his den, if he has taken nothing?

5 Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth, when there is no trap for it? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when it has taken nothing?

6 Is a trumpet blown in a city, and the people are not afraid? Does disaster come to a city, unless the Lord has done it?

7 “For the Lord God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.

8 The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?”

When the child is caught with cookie crumbs all around him and his teeth have a little bit of residual chocolate on them, it is safe to assume that he has eaten a cookie. But since he wasn’t given a cookie, he must have stolen it when mom wasn’t looking. Why then, does the child deny having taken a cookie? The evidence is clear and punishment can be justly meted out. Strangely enough, what often happens is that the child will continue to proclaim their innocence even in the face of unmistakable evidence. This is where Israel finds herself in today’s ready. With the words from 3:3-8, Amos is probably responding to the claims of innocence that he is hearing from those who have heard his previous words of prophecy.

What we can always count on God seeing us with perfect clarity and any judgment He speaks is wholly true and righteous. And yet, like that cookie eating child, we are prone to excuses. There is just something inside of us that does not want to take responsibility for our wrong-doing. Instead we want to justify before a holy God why we took that cookie, or perhaps even worse, denying that we were even in the same room as the cookie jar. As parents we can be infuriated by the child who continues to lie about their actions, and we can assume that God is no different. How could our lying be endearing to God? It is not.

In Matthew 24:28, Jesus says, “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.” He wanted His followers to know that trying to hide the truth from God will never work. The evidence is all too clear. There is no need to deny it. He can always see the vultures circling the evidence. Instead of rebelling against His voice, we would do better to agree with His assessment.

One of the signs of spiritual maturation is to accept God’s evaluation of our behavior instead of making numerous excuses for our sin. When conviction, brought by the Holy Spirit, draws our attention to the sinfulness in our lives, we can do nothing other than accept God’s clear picture of who we are and the depravity of our situation. But in that same spiritual maturity, we can also acknowledge that God has made a way for us to be free of our sin through Jesus Christ. Accepting ourselves as flawed sinners and embracing the forgiving work of Jesus lie at the very core of our faith. Amos was hoping to see repentance in the face of his God instructed prophecies. The nation of Israel did not respond well, but we can.

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