Amos 9:11-15

And finally we come to the point of Amos that we have all been waiting for- the promise of restoration. I hope that as you have read Amos with me that you have seen or felt the roller coaster ride that Amos has gone through as well as the people of Israel. I have pitied, been furious at, and now celebrated with the people of Israel in this journey they have been traveling.

What does restoration really mean? What do I know about restoration? I think many of us can sympathize with a journey where exile and restoration is a piece of it. One part of this Amos passage confuses me, and it would keep confusing me if not for the rest of the passage. "I will... build it as it used to be" (Amos 9:11). We can't go back to the way it used to be. No one can go back into the past, unless of course you are an avid follower of the show Lost (as I am). But in life, we can't go back. And God doesn't really want Israel to go back to the way they were. In the rest of this passage, there is an expansion of God's plan. God's ideas don't just include Israel, they include all nations that bear God's name. God's idea is to invite into relationship all people. And in the exile, people in Babylon do hear about God and desire to follow God's ways. And eventually, Jesus will come to invite all nations into relationship with God.

And that makes me think about my times of "exile" and "restoration." How often do I try to go back to the "way things used to be" and how often do I let my experiences be shaped by God to expand me and to invite more people into loving relationship with God? May we take the Amos journey through the valleys of life into the more difficult path of change and growth.