Amos 9:9

 Amos 9:9 says, For, lo, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth.  God told Amos that He was going to sift Isreal like corn.  The purpose of sifting is to separate the good grain from the bad, and God said that none of the good would fall upon the earth.  The people of Israel were going to be shaken, but those who were faithful to God would still be protected by God.  Even if we as followers of Christ today are shaken by the things going on around us, God will always keep us from falling as long as we remain faithful to Him.  Verse ten adds, All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, which say, The evil shall not overtake nor prevent us.  God said that the sinners of His people, those who were His in name only, would die by the sword. These were the people of Israel who thought that nothing bad could happen in the because they felt that simply by being born into the nation of Israel meant that God would always have to protect them, even if they were allowing themselves to worship other gods.  We cannot expect God to protect us from the evil in the world today if we only accept Him as our protector and do not acknowledge Him as the only God that there is.  Verse eleven states, In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:  God said that there was coming a day when He would restore the tabernacle of David, close the breaches, and raise it up from the ruins.  This was not just a physical restoration that God was speaking of, but was the promise of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ.  God does not call us to a physical relationship with promises of great wealth, but to a spiritual relationship with a cross to take up daily.  Verse twelve adds, That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.  Through faith in Jesus Christ, God's kingdom was and is going to expand not just in Israel, but to the uttermost parts of the world.  If America, or Israel, or any nation is special to God today, it is not because the people of that nation are more deserving of God's blessings, but it is because the people are obedient to God through their relationship with Jesus Christ.  Because of that relationship, God will use them to reach out to all lost people everywhere.  Verse thirteen declares, Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that soweth seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.  God said that the people of Israel, who had remained true to Him, would be blessed with an abundance that would never run out.  We as followers of Christ are blessed by an abundance of God's grace that will never run out.  This does not mean a material abundance, but a spiritual one.  I believe that we should never attempt to make Christianity about material wealth or blessings.   Anything that we gain in this world will one day be done away with, except for our relationship to Jesus Christ and the things that we do to advance His kingdom and to glorify our heavenly Father.  Verse fourteen adds, And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.  God said that His restored kingdom would be well populated.  Though most people may never accept Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord, many people will, and they will be the ones populating God's kingdom, which is a heavenly kingdom.  Verse fifteen concludes, And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, saith the LORD thy God.  When we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we will be planted forever in God's kingdom.  Nothing can pull us out of that kingdom, because we are secured by the power of God.