“The words of Amos, which HE SAW…” (Amos 1:1) Amos said, he was no prophet, nor was he a son of a prophet, but he was a sheepbreeder. What does it mean “He saw” the word. “Open my eyes to SEE the wonderful truths in your instructions.” (Psa. 119:18) If God does not open our eyes, we will not see the GLORIOUS WONDER IN HIS WORD. We are not naturally able to see spiritual beauty. When we read the Bible without the help of God, the glory of God in the teachings and events of the Bible is like the sun shining in the face of a blind man. Not that we can’t interpret its surface meaning, but we can’t see the wonder, the beauty, the glory of it such that it wins your heart.
“Your word I have HIDDEN in my heart, That I might not sin against You.” (Psa. 119:11) What am I actually hiding? “All Scripture is GOD–BREATHED and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Tim. 3:16-17) I am hiding the BREATH OF GOD in my heart. Remember, “…the word of God is LIVING and POWERFUL…” (Heb. 4:12) We must get this truth in our lives, when we sincerely read God’s word, we are encountering the LIVING POWERFUL BREATH OF GOD. We are not just looking at printed words on a page, no, the word of God is miraculously living and amazingly powerful. No matter how old the bible is or how tattered or worn it may be we read the Word, we are receiving God’s breath which as we know when it was breathed into Adam he became a living soul and when it was breathed in to the “dry bones” in (Ezek. 37:9) God’s “…breath came into them, and they LIVED, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great ARMY.” (Ezek. 37:10)
Paul said this to the Church at Thessalonica, “…we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, THE WORD OF GOD, which also effectively works in you who believe.” (1 Thess. 2:13)
-Bill Stockham