Timing is everything. God's timeline is often vastly different from ours and certainly different from what we would choose if we had a say in the matter. But God's timing is just right. We know that Jesus came into the world at just the right time (see Galatians 4:4, Romans 5:6). And He will come back at just the right time.

In this next vision (Amos 8:1-3), God shows Amos that the time has come for Israel to be judged. The prophet is shown a basket of ripe fruit, fruit that is just right to be consumed. Just as the time is right to eat the fruit, the time is right to judge the people of Israel. God will ″spare them no longer″ (v. 2). This phrase connects this vision with that of the plumb-line, when God also said, ″I will spare them no longer″ (7:8). This repetition shows the consistency of Amos' message to God's people and reinforces the certainty of his prophetic words.

There is another repeated idea in this section of Amos. It is a phrase that has been used a number of times previously as well: Amos refers to God as ″the Sovereign Lord″ (8:1, 3). This is something that should not be dismissed as merely a title. When Amos refers to God as ″the Sovereign Lord,″ he is reminding the people to whom they actually belong. God is the one who gives and takes life; He is the one who orders the sun and moon to their places and calls the stars out by name (Psalm 19:1-6; 147:4). He is the one who feeds the lion (Psalm 104:20-21), and causes the lilies of the fields to bloom (Matthew 6:28). He is, as Paul would later write to the church in Colossae, the creator and sustainer of life (Colossians 1:15-20; see also Amos 5:8).

All the historical references in the book of Amos, from the exodus (2:10; 3:1) and the battles (2:9) to the covenant (2:4), were meant to remind the people of God's power and provision. They were to remind them of His right–and His responsibility–to hold Israel accountable for her actions. So when the Sovereign Lord declares that the time has come, the time has indeed come.

That time will turn songs of worship into wailing, and the devastation caused by the judgment of God will leave people speechless (8:3). We often say, ″I don't know what to say″–yet speak anyway. But on the day when God's judgment is visited upon His people, the magnitude of the death and carnage will render people silent. Bodies will be ″flung everywhere″ (v. 3). God's prophesied judgment will be thorough and complete. This dire warning is meant to call people to repentance and faithfulness to God.