The Chain of Questions

"Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" This line is often preached as advice about the company you keep, the person you marry, or a business partnership you should stay out of.

In Amos, though, it is the first in a run of questions. "Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey?" "Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him?" (A gin is a trap.) "Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid?" Each question starts from something you can see or hear and works back to the cause that must be behind it. A lion does not roar for nothing, and nobody sounds an alarm for nothing. Two people walking the same road at the same hour must have arranged to meet. And the run of questions arrives where Amos was heading all along: "The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord GOD hath spoken, who can but prophesy?" Amos was a herdsman from Tekoa, and he had come north to Israel to say things nobody wanted to hear. His argument is that his being there has a cause too, and the cause is God.

So the verse still teaches something true, even apart from the wedding sermons. Things that happen have causes, and the things God sends are the ones people are quickest to call coincidence. The word from Scripture that stayed with you this week came from somewhere. The Lord who "revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets" still speaks on purpose, so take it to Him and listen.

Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 100 is Prayer from the Bottom (Jonah 2:7).

All 365 readings in Daily Manna, Year Two