Amos again reminds us that God's election is not only a gift, not only grace, but also responsibility for the promises given. 'All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient' - these are the words the sons of Israel spoke when they made the Covenant with God at Sinai (Exod 24:7). This promise given to God, on the one hand, opened extraordinary possibilities before the people of God, but on the other hand placed upon them the yoke of fulfilling His commandments. This is what was supposed to distinguish Israel from the other nations. Yet it was precisely this burden that the chosen people wanted to throw off, while nevertheless not refusing God's protection.

But the Lord cannot remain indifferent to how His people, in their lack of understanding, are ready to abandon the very essence of the Covenant. Therefore, in order to preserve it, God must require everything that was not given to Him - commandments fulfilled. The appearance in Israel of prophets calling for repentance, for conversion, is a sure sign that the time has come for the people of God to pay their debts.

Prophecy is often thought of as predicting the future, something like a weather forecast. God allows the prophets to look into the future and tell people about it. There is no special meaning visible in such prophecy, except to frighten people. But through Amos, God explains a very different task for prophecy. First of all He reminds them that to be the chosen people is a great honor, but an even greater responsibility. And if that responsibility has been "failed," the fall will be catastrophic. Then the task of prophecy is warning.

The questions in verses 3-6 of chapter 3 are remarkable: they suggest the interconnectedness of events. Prophecy does not appear out of nowhere, not simply from the prophet's insight, but because God has planned to do something and considers it necessary to inform people about it so that they can take part in it in some way, for God created people for cooperation with Him. This is the meaning of verse 7, and verse 8 suggests that there may be many prophets, which is what happens over the next several centuries.

The prophecies of Amos depict the King's anger at subjects who sin. People are able to see the Creator's almightiness and mercy in the beauty and ordered structure of nature; they can also discern God's disagreement with human sin in disasters. The punishment God sends sinners is frightening: He allows everything to go "its own way" - drought, famine, plague, wars... But God has prepared something far greater: "Prepare to meet your God, O Israel" (Amos 4:12)!

“You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities,” says the Lord. It follows that truly great grace places great obligations upon us. Indeed, if the Lord were indifferent to what we do, it would mean that He simply did not care about us. Is that what we want? Would we really want God not to care about us? If so, then we do not need Him. We should then be honest and admit that life would be easier without Him. But if we want Him to love us, we will have to accept that our conduct matters to Him and that He does not want us to sin. Only then can we call upon His name honestly, knowing that if He intervenes in our life, much will collapse: everything in which there was no place for Him.