ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 Monite Tisema 11, 2023

The Lion Has Roared

Kuo Ngungulu ‘a e Laione

AMOS 3:8

"THE LION HAS ROARED; WHO WILL NOT FEAR? THE LORD GOD HAS SPOKEN; WHO CAN BUT PROPHESY?"

‘EMOSI 3:8

Kuo kālou ‘a e Saione, Ko hai ‘e ‘ikai manavahē? Kuo folofola ‘a ‘Ātonai Sihova, Ko hai ‘e mata‘epalofisai?

Kuo gugulu ae laione, kohai e ikai manavahe? kuo folofola a Jihova koe Otua, kohai e ikai kikite? (Paaki ‘a Uesi)

At the beginning of MGM's films is the face of a lion, filling the screen with his roar. It's a trademark noise. "Pay attention," it says. A lion's roar cannot be heard. In the days of Amos, the Asiatic lion still roamed the hills and woods of Israel. Since Amos had been a herdsman, he would often have heard the lion's roar shake the night (7:14). Perhaps for that reason, he begins his book, "The LORD sha ag ['roars'] from Zion" (1:2). Cover your ears, bury your head in the sand, act deaf-it matters not. The roar of this Lion will be heard. He sha'ag through the mouths of prophets like Amos. He roars still yet today. Who will not fear?

In the Chronicles of Narnia, Beaver famously says of Aslan, "He isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you... He's wild, you know. Not like a tame lion." God is not safe. He is not our pet deity to whom we throw bones. He's wild. His roar will pierce our benighted soul. His roar will remind us who is King. His roar from the altar of his death and our atonement echoes now and ever that he is good.

O Lion of the tribe of Judah, may we hear, fear, believe, and live by the roar of your voice.