Amos 3:3
Do two people walk hand in hand
if they aren't going to the same place?
4 Does a lion roar in the forest
if there's no carcass to devour?
Does a young lion growl with pleasure
if he hasn't caught his supper?
5 Does a bird fall to the ground
if it hasn't been hit with a stone?
Does a trap spring shut
if nothing trips it?
6When the alarm goes off in the city,
aren't people alarmed?
And when disaster strikes the city,
doesn't GOD stand behind it?
7The fact is, GOD, the Master, does nothing
without first telling his prophets the whole story.
8The lion has roared--
who isn't frightened?
GOD has spoken--
what prophet can keep quiet?
 
 
Caught Instead of Moving-
Keeping Quiet Instead of Making Noise
 
Last week I watched kids in my Sunday school classroom as they watched fake fish swimming in a fake aquarium. I guess it would sound nicer to say plastic toy fish in a toy aquarium.  Whatever the proper name for this device might be, the children do like it and it is pretty,  lit with soft blue lighting. When plugged in, the air pushes the multi-colored plastic fish through real water. Therefore,  it does appear that the fake fish are really swimming; but alas, there is one fish who doesn't swim.  He seems to have gotten caught at the bottom of the tank.   One of the children asked, "Why is he not moving?"  Another child answered, "Cause he is in the wrong place." I attempted to unstick the stuck wanna be swimmer to no avail.  The children soon lost interest in the unmovable fish and concentrated on the ones who were actually doing what they were designed to do - move.  Poor fish. He is stuck, kind of caught in the wrong place at the wrong time I guess.  If he were real perhaps he could rise up and get himself unstuck.
 
Later that afternoon, unmovable fish forgotten, I went to work.  People came and went all evening buying fish and chicken, beans and rice, ice cream and loaf bread.  One guy came in looking for chain saw oil, said he was cutting down some trees.  It seems he had gotten a tree halfway down, the chain saw quit on him, and he was trying to get done before dark. He said he couldn't leave it like it was because if a strong wind came it might fall and hurt someone.   For some strange reason, I thought, " If a tree falls in a forest when no one is around does it make a noise?"  However, I didn't share the thought. I simply told him, "No, sorry, we don't carry chain saw oil."
 
Still later that evening I had my handheld electronic Bible. I take it in with me and when we aren't busy I often turn it on to see what verse pops up.  You see, random verses appear every time the power button is activated.  Guess what verse appeared when I turned it on? Amos 3:4 Does a lion roar in the forest if there's no carcass to devour? Does a young lion growl with pleasure if he hasn't caught his supper?
 
When I read that I immediately thought of pervious thoughts of trees falling in forest and fish who no longer move being caught in the wrong place. What does it all mean, if anything? What was God trying to tell me, if anything? If it was anything, should it now be shared with you all? 
 
 If you say it is just a coincidence and a real stretch to relate the three, think about it. Ok, we have the forest, but no tree, a lion instead of a fish, but something is definitely caught at the wrong place obviously at the wrong time.
 
Often we as Christians get caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Some fall. If we fall is there anyone to hear the noise or care? When we get hurt we often give up and sit at the bottom of the tank, kind of like the plastic fish, thinking we are stuck and helpless as we watch the rest of the world doing what they were designed to do, moving quickly all around us.  We fear failure thinking if we open our mouths the words will be wrong and no one will be around to have any interest in what we have to say anyway.  We become stuck, unmovable, in a trap and quietly wait for the enemy to come and devour us.
 
It is time to arise. Get up from where you are today and began to move again. You can get yourself unstuck.  Open your mouth. Make some noise.  Sound an alarm.  God is waiting for His people to do what He designed us to do.  He does not intend for us to be fake plastic people only moving when we are pushed along by some air which is controlled by other people. Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being;  We have read the Word. We have had prophets speak to us all over and over.  We must not sit idle in traps waiting to be devoured. God has spoken.  Today we are free to move and make some noise.