Amaziah also said to Amos, "You seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there, but don't prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a royal house!" Then Amos answered Amaziah, "I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son, but I was a herdsman, and a farmer of sycamore figs; and Yahweh took me from following the flock, and Yahweh said to me, 'Go, prophesy to my people Israel.' Now therefore listen to Yahweh's word Amos 7:12–16 WEB.

Amos, Daniel, Ezra, and Nehemiah lived during a dark time in the history of Israel. Their forefathers had forsaken the living God and replaced Him with something else. A more passive, placebo god. It was a strange situation. They had built the altars and temples for God, and the priests continued their rituals, but God had left the building.

The priests continued their daily offerings, even though God was sick of them (Isaiah 1:14, Jeremiah 6:20, 7:21, Hosea 4:13). He had told them: "Listen to My voice and I will be your God, and you shall be My people, and walk in the way that I command you" (Jeremiah 7:23).

Yet, they turned that commandment into rote tradition and became more wicked than the people the Lord had driven out before them. They kept a long list of religious rules but had no relationship with God. They were spiritually dead, and it became the blind leading the blind. Oddly enough, church life can continue long after God has left the building.

A placebo is a harmless pill designed to merely calm or please someone. It has no therapeutic effect. The word comes from Latin and literally means "I shall please." The Israelites had created a pleasing god that was easy to get along with.

God sent Jeremiah to warn them and tell them the truth. Yet, instead of listening to his words, they became furious and wanted to kill him. "The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of Yahweh. It happened when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that Yahweh had commanded him to speak to all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold on him, saying, 'You shall surely die'" (Jeremiah 26:7).

God's word was no longer welcome in His own house, and they beat His prophets and put them in jail (Jeremiah 20:2). He sent many messengers to try and correct them, but they beat them, stoned them, and refused to acknowledge that God had sent them at all (1Kings 13:1).

Amos was a shepherd and a farmer, but God gave him a message for Israel and sent him to them to try and wake His people up. God's priests were spiritually deaf and simply continued on in their daily drudgery. They stubbornly rejected His correction and led the people into worshiping a fake placebo god. The high priest told God's prophet Amos to get out and stay out.

Eventually, God had enough of this, and He stirred up Assyria to destroy Israel and carry the people into exile. Then the kingdom of Babylon captured Judah. They burned the cities, destroyed the temples, and carried the people far away to be servants in a foreign land. God gave the nation a reboot and started over, much like the flood during Noah's day.

Jeremiah prophesied that after seventy years in exile, God would visit them and bring them back to Israel (Jeremiah 29:10). So when the seventy years were up, Daniel began praying, fasting, and reminding God of His word to them (Daniel 9:2). Isaiah had prophesied 150 years before Cyrus became king that he would be the one to rebuild the Lord's temple (Isaiah 44:28). So God called King Cyrus by name about 150 years before he came on the scene.

This is the time when Ezra and Nehemiah lived. The seventy years in exile were completed. King Cyrus, a pagan king who was used by God, gave an order to rebuild the temple of God at Jerusalem (Ezra 1:1). The remnants of the Jewish people began returning home after spending those seventy years in exile.

God always has a redemption plan in place before His judgment comes. When the world was destroyed by a flood in Noah's time, God kept a remnant alive to rebuild it. When Israel was destroyed and taken into exile, God brought a remnant back safely to rebuild. Isaiah's prophesying of Cyrus 150 years before shows that God was already working on the way to restore a proper relationship with His people before their fall began.

God always makes a way for the fallen to return to His family. Not as an outcast but as a fully accepted, loved person of status, just as the prodigal son returned home to a feast, a signet ring, the finest robe, and sandals (Luke 15:22). You are a true son or daughter of the Most-High God, and no matter what you have done in your life, God wants you back with Him.

He was working out the way for you to return before you ever left. He already set the time for you to go free before you were taken captive. He knows you by name, and even the hairs of your head are all numbered (Luke 12:7). "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only born Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life." (John 3:16).

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I ask for and accept Your forgiveness for my sins. Please help me return to You in every area of my life. Consume me with Your love, Lord, and let me see through Your eyes today. In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!

Note: Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:12-13) ~ If you have a prayer need, we are here for you! We and the prayer team are ready to lift you up at our private prayer page: RHM Prayer Network. If you are interested in joining the prayer team, here is how to get started Prayer Partners.