Rēad to Read …Again
Daily Reading: Amos 1-5
Amos 4:13
For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The God of hosts, is his name.
Amos was a prophet to the northern kingdom of Israel. His message concerned the captivity of Israel at the hands of the Assyrians which took place in 722 BC. He delivered his warnings to the nation over the span of about forty-one years, from 787 – 746 BC. About twenty-five years after his ministry ended Israel was overrun and destroyed by their conquerors. They did not listen.
God knew they wouldn’t. The God of the universe that formed the mountains and created the wind, that made the darkness, and who walks up and down upon the high places of the earth utters a statement so sobering that it is well worth more than a few moments of consideration. God states clearly: …and declareth unto man what is his thought… God not only knows that which a person thinks, He declares it (lets it be known) unto them.
Amazing! Please do not let this pass. How? How does God declare to a person that which they think? Through His Word. For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12) This is why the old adage is true: “The Bible is not just a book that men read, it is a book that reads men.”
This is one of the reasons why individuals stay away from the Bible, which is God’s Word. They do not want to be exposed for that which they think. But even though they may stay away, God knows that which they think, that which they meditate upon, that which they plan or wish they could do or have, and that which they will do. He knows it all. Jeremiah proclaimed this truth. The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it. (Jeremiah 17:9) We may not always know all that is in our heart, but He does.
We are told today that through online monitoring those that harvest our data can predict that which a person will buy or even do in the future. This is not that. This is something else altogether. God does not predict within a certain degree of certainty. He knows as fact that which a person is in their thoughts. His dealing with that person is based, in part, on that which He knows about that person.
For example, we hear the words of a person who makes us a promise. If we think them to be honest, we believe them based upon their words. The Lord God deals not with their words, but He knows their real and true thoughts. This is why sometimes it seems the Lord is unfair, for He does this or that for one but not for another. How is that just, we may ask. It is just because God is just, and He knows not only what one presents outwardly, but what one is inwardly. Hence His choice of David to be king of Israel instead of Eliab his older brother. But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. I Samuel 16:7
Yes indeed, God knows a person better than that person knows themselves. And if we listen to that still small voice of the Holy Spirit coupled with the Word of God He will declare unto anyone their innermost thoughts.
Dr. William T. Howe
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