The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Amos 7:3,
"So the Lord relented."
According to dictionary.com "relent" means:
1. to soften in feeling, temper, or determination; become more mild, compassionate, or forgiving.
2. to become less severe; slacken.
Synonyms for "relent" provided are: "bend", "yield".
How is it the Lord relents? Here is a comment that tells me something about our wonderful God, something that often goes unaccounted for in theology. God can and does, at times, relent. In order for him to relent he must first have a course of action or outlook he has determined to take, something or someone intercedes and subsequently he changes his course of action and/or outlook.
This is exactly what the text tells us in Amos. As the Lord "was preparing swarms of locusts" Amos cried out, "Sovereign Lord, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!" Amos 7:2. As a result the Lord said, "This will not happen", Amos 7:3. Likewise, if we didn't get the message the first time, a second "relenting" takes place, "The Sovereign Lord was calling for judgment by fire; it dried up the great deep and devoured the land." Amos 7:4. Again, Amos cried out, "Sovereign Lord, I beg you, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!", verse 5. Again, we are told, the Lord relented, Amos 7:6.
Some would prefer to think in terms of a passage such as this that God always intended to take the second, later course of action. It makes them feel uncomfortable that God can change his mind or direction. However, the term "relent" requires just that: a genuine change of mind or direction.
This doesn't mean that God himself changes at all. He remains the same, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." Hebrews 13:8. As well, there are many things the Lord will never take a change in direction with. One of these is his commitment to ensure all who embrace him in faith will find themselves in his presence in the resurrection, "He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful." 1 Corinthians 1:8-9. Also, we learn from Romans 11:29, "God's gifts and his call are irrevocable."
The Lord explains his own perspective on this relative to the nations of earth, in Jeremiah 18:7-10, "If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it."
What I learn from this is that God interacts with his creation in startling ways. He allows us to respond to him and then determines his course of action based on choices we make. The notion that God orchestrates all that would happen, (else, how could he be sovereign?) is flawed as we recognize that our God is much bigger than that. He is entirely capable of managing the cosmos within the terms of his own righteousness and justice where his creatures have a will to exercise of their own. Here is where our understanding of the importance of prayer resides: God will respond to us within the parameters of his own choosing.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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