157 Thrive Deeper: Jonah and Amos

In this episode we cover the books of Jonah and Amos, both written about the same time period during the rule of Jeroboam 2 one of Israel’s worst Kings. The story of Jonah, is probably one of the most well known Bible stories. In many ways, it is holding up a mirror to our own disfunction when it comes to understanding God’s ways and in particular His unmerited grace. Are we OK with the fact that God loves our enemies? Do we let our pride get in the way of our joy as God redeems people to Himself? Amos was called by God to head north into Israel to preach Gods truth to the people. The book is a collection of visions, poems, prayers etc from Amos that were compiled at some later stage – all with the intent of presenting a clear message to the evil northern Kingdom – a message we still need to hear today. He accuses Israel’s wealthy of ignoring the poor and of grave injustice to the people. Here we see the relationship between God’s justice and His mercy. He must judge and punish injustice and evil, but His ultimate plan is redemption – to restore Gods covenant family.