Series: Shepherds Roar
Message: A Shepherd's Vision
Preacher: J. Murdock
Reflection: Nathan Brown
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Zan Long
Live Beyond: Art Preuss
Live Purpose: Don Pate
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: Amos 1-2 in the New International Version (NIV). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: One of my favorite literary representations of God is found in C S Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia, in which Aslan is the Great Lion who creates the world and its various creatures and intervenes from time to time in the history of the nations and their inhabitants, including sacrificing himself to defeat the power of the White Witch who had kept Narnia under her wintry spell.
One of the recurring descriptions of Aslan is that he is “not a tame lion.” When first introduced to the human children who find their way into Narnia in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, they ask whether it would be safe to meet this great Lion: “‘Safe?’ said Mr Beaver; ‘don’t you hear what Mrs Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ’Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.’”
This is the tone of voice we hear from God in Amos’ prophecy: “The Lord’s voice will roar from Zion and thunder from Jerusalem!” (Amos 1:2, NLT). These pronouncements come with such force as to scorch the earth, drying up pastures and withering the grass—a profound image when understood from Amos’ perspective of a hardworking shepherd. This is not a tame God offering merely comfort, good advice, and nice weather. He is not safe: Amos’ prophecies are harsh in their judgments and dire in their warnings. “The lion has roared—so who isn’t frightened?” (Amos 3:8, NLT).
But even as He roars, shaking the people, the mountains and the temple, Amos insists that God is good. God’s anger is because of His goodness. He abhors the unfaithfulness and injustice of the people and He is angered by the hurt caused to those they exploit and oppress. Throughout the Bible, that coming judgement is bad news for those who enjoy and profit from the status quo but good news for those who suffer. And even the prophet’s message of warning is an invitation to repent, to live differently—even if that is against the dominant culture—and to seek the mercy of God and claim His promises of restoration and renewal.
God is not tame, but He is good. He is the sovereign King, who “never does anything until he reveals his plans to his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7, NLT).
Recalibrate: How do you respond to the description of the character of God as not safe, but good?
Respond: Pray these words: “God, may we never take You for granted or make You too safe in our thinking about You, but always trust in Your goodness, mercy and love toward us.”
Research: Read—or re-read—The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis, with a view to how the nature of God is depicted in the character of Aslan.
Remember: “The Lord will roar like a lion from Jerusalem. His loud voice will sound like a growl from Jerusalem” (Amos 1:2, ICB).
Nathan Brown is a writer and book editor at Signs Publishing Company, near Melbourne, Australia. Nathan is author/editor of 16 books, including two this year—Of Falafels and Following Jesus and For the Least of These.
Can your little one roar like a lion? Here are some lions roaring to watch with your little one. Our Words to Remember for this week are “The Lord will roar like a lion from Jerusalem. His loud voice will sound like a growl from Jerusalem” (Amos 1:2, ICB). Can you imagine being a shepherd and hearing a lion roar not far from your sheep? Amos tells us that the Lord is growling at His beloved sheep the Israelites because they were being more like wolves than sheep.
Listen to this song from Life Tree Kids This song says I’m trusting you God—you are good. Our Words to Remember for this week are “The Lord will roar like a lion from Jerusalem. His loud voice will sound like a growl from Jerusalem” (Amos 1:2, ICB). Know that when Jesus is our shepherd and we are His sheep, we do not have to be afraid when the Bible talks about God being like a lion. Have you ever been growled at for doing something you know is wrong? I certainly have and it did not feel good. Did you keep doing the thing you got growled at for? God is good, and because He is good, He will growl when things are bad.
Here are some interesting facts about lions. Two thousand years ago, it is estimated that over a million lions roamed throughout regions that covered present-day Europe, Syria, Israel, Iraq, Pakistan, Iran, and India. In the 1940s, lions numbered 450,000. Today, there are as few as 32,000 on Earth. Amos lived more than two thousand years ago, so there must have been a lot of lions roaming the earth.
According to an article from the Smithsonian magazine, a lion or tiger can roar as loud as 114 decibels, about 25 times louder than a gas-powered lawn mower. It is no wonder that God’s voice is depicted as thunder (Job 37:2,4-5).
To begin to understand his vision, we cannot forget that God always speaks in a way that the person to whom He is speaking to will understand, always. Amos 1:2 states, “The Lord roars . . .” Let’s not forget that Amos was a shepherd. He most likely dealt with lions in the past while tending to his sheep and had to protect his flock from lions. He also knew what a lion sounded like and he knew when they were about to attack.
Let’s get real: God is being compared to a lion’s roar in this instance. Has God ever made you afraid? Are there attributes about God that make you fearful of Him?
Jesus did not lay in the manger thinking great big God-thoughts. He was just like us. I wrote it in a kids’ song a few years ago: “Jesus came as a baby, with a tiny little nose. Jesus came as a baby, with a bunch of tiny toes. He’d laugh and He’d run and when Mary called He would come and I wonder if He ever sucked His thumb? He’d ride on Joseph’s back, when he was ticked He would laugh. When Jesus was a little child.” But one day, He went to Jerusalem as a young man, no longer a child, and He got His first viewing of a blood sacrifice and I believe from that moment on it clicked. From that moment on He understood who He was and why He’d been born and it was a straight shot to Calvary. It would take more than twenty years but He knew, every day, where He was going—and He was perfectly OK with it.
Zan Long is GRC director for faith development for ages 0-17. She lives in Sydney, Australia, and serves at her local church in nearby Kellyville.
Art Preuss pastors in Massachusetts at the Springfield, Florence, and Warren Adventist churches and serves in the U. S. Air Force Reserve as a chaplain.
Don Pate is “retired” in Tennessee after decades of teaching and pastoring but is still active in speaking and creating for the Kingdom.