"Let The Lion Roar: Prepare to Meet Your God” | Rev. Betty Bricker

Rev. Betty J. Bricker opened with a laugh. Someone had told her that Amos was the fellow on The Andy Griffith Show who wandered into the jail to sleep off a rough night. "That guy got that a little mixed up," she said. "That was Otis." Amos wasn't the town drunk. He was a herdsman and a grower of fig trees from a small village about twelve miles south of Jerusalem — an unlikely prophet with no formal religious training, called off the hillside to carry God's word into the Northern Kingdom under Jeroboam II.

It was a prosperous moment for Israel. The economy was booming, the borders were secure, the temples were crowded. But Amos saw past the veneer to a people who were religious in name and form only — comfortable at the top while the poor were crushed underneath.

There are moments in Scripture when God whispers. Amos 4 is not one of them. As Betty put it: "Amos four is a roar." A thunderous warning to God's own people — people who worshiped, tithed, and sang, yet lived in rebellion. And the line that echoes through the whole chapter is the one she returned to again and again:

"Prepare to meet your God, O Israel."
— Amos 4:12

She walked the chapter in four movements.

A Word to the Comfortable (vv. 1–3)

Amos begins with a shock: "Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria" — the wealthy of a self-satisfied society, those who "cast out toward Harmon." Betty was quick to clarify what the text is and isn't about: "This is not about gender," she said. "It is about complacency. It is about people who enjoy the blessings of God while ignoring the burdens of others."

She pictured a cruise ship beginning to sink — alarms blaring, people scrambling — while one group stayed in the dining hall, eating dessert and laughing, too comfortable to notice the danger. "Isn't it us?" she asked. Comfort itself isn't sin, "but comfort can become a spiritual sedative. It can numb us to the needs around us and the voice of God within us."

Where has comfort made me spiritually numb?

Religious, But Not Righteous (vv. 4–5)

Then Amos turns to their worship — and God speaks with biting sarcasm: "Go to Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin even more." Bethel and Gilgal were Israel's most famous worship centers. People flocked there to sacrifice, tithe, and sing. "They were very religious," Betty said, "but they were not righteous. Their worship was loud, but their hearts were silent."

She remembered a worship leader whose guitar looked perfect on the outside — polished, in tune, beautiful — but inside, a brace had cracked. It still made a sound. It no longer made music. "To sing every song, to give every offering, and still be far from God." Then the line that drew a thank-you from the room: "Sitting in a sanctuary doesn't make you a Christian any more than sitting in a garage makes you a car."

"God does not want a performance," she said. "He wants surrender."

Does my worship reflect my heart?

The Discipline of Love (vv. 6–11)

In verses 6 through 11, Amos lists the ways God tried to reach his people — famine, drought, crop failure, blight, locusts, plague, warfare, even an overthrow like Sodom and Gomorrah. And after each one, the same refrain: "Yet you have not returned to me, declares the Lord." Each opportunity to turn back slipped past.

"God's not cruel," Betty said. "He's committed. He disciplines not to destroy us, but to restore us." She pointed to the shepherd's staff with its long hook — the kind from every Christmas pageant. When a sheep wandered too close to danger, the shepherd would hook it around the neck and pull it back. Sometimes it hurt. The shepherd wasn't punishing the sheep; he was protecting it. "Hardship is often God's hook," she said, "merely disguised as discomfort. When life falls apart, God's not pushing us away. He's pulling us back."

Is God using difficulty to draw me closer right now?

The Appointment You Can't Cancel (vv. 12–13)

The chapter reaches its high point in verse 12 — and then, almost in the same breath, breaks into a doxology. The God who declares "prepare to meet your God" is the One "who forms the mountains, creates the wind… who turns dawn to darkness… the Lord God Almighty is his name."

Betty let the weight of it land: "Prepare to meet your God, O Israel. Not prepare to meet your pastor. Not prepare to meet your neighbor." She told of a teacher who announced a surprise quiz; a panicked student protested, "but I'm not ready" — and the teacher replied, "that's why it's called a surprise."

"The call of Amos four is a divine alarm clock," she said. "It shakes us awake." Comfort can bind us. Religion can deceive us. Hardship can warn us. And through all of it, God is calling — not for empty rituals or excuses or delay, but for repentance, humility, and a heart that returns to him.

Am I spiritually prepared to meet God today?

Four Things to Carry Into the Week

1. Comfort can become a spiritual sedative. Prosperity is not a sign of spiritual health.

2. Worship without obedience is empty. God wants the heart behind the ritual, not a performance.

3. God disciplines to restore, not destroy. Hard seasons can be his hook, disguised as discomfort.

4. The most important meeting of your life is still ahead. The time to return is now.

Betty closed where Amos does — with an open door. "The door of mercy is still open," she said. "The invitation still stands. The voice of God still calls. Return to me and prepare to meet your God."

---

Listen to and subscribe to the audio-only podcast with your favorite podcasting app below.

---

Your giving is an act of worship. Your giving supports the mission and ministry of New Hope. We are changing lives, renewing the church, and transforming communities, here and abroad.

---

More Sermons in this Series

---

Other Sermons from Pastor Vicki