Amos 3: the chosen people of the Lord will face consequences of their idolatry

Amos argues that something happens in response to another action. For instance:

3-7
Do two people walk hand in hand
    if they aren’t going to the same place?
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?
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? (...)

In particular we read:

(...)-7 And when disaster strikes the city,
    doesn’t God stand behind it?
The fact is, God, the Master, does nothing
    without first telling his prophets the whole story.

Amos is a prophet. Israel/Samaria is doing economically fine - it seem that there is nothing to worry; however, the prophet Amos is warning Israel about a disaster that the Lord will send to them.

9-11
Announce to the forts of Assyria,
    announce to the forts of Egypt—
Tell them, “Gather on the Samaritan mountains, take a good, hard look:
    what a snake pit of brutality and terror!
They can’t—or won’t—do one thing right.” God said so.
    “They stockpile violence and blight.
Therefore”—this is God’s Word—“an enemy will surround the country.
    He’ll strip you of your power and plunder your forts.”

The Lord is calling pagan countries to witness how the Lord will deal with his people (that can't and won't do anything right). An enemy (Assyria) will strip Israel of his power.    
The Lord wants that his people behaves accordingly to their calling:

2
“Out of all the families on earth,
    I picked you.
Therefore, because of your special calling,
    I’m holding you responsible for all your sins.”

This calling is to love the Lord and not false gods:

13-15
“Listen and bring witness against Jacob’s family”—
    this is God’s Word, God-of-the-Angel-Armies!
“Note well! The day I make Israel pay for its sins,
    pay for the sin-altars of worship at Bethel,
The horned altars will all be dehorned
    and scattered around.
I’ll tear down the winter palace,
    smash the summer palace—all your fancy buildings.
The luxury homes will be demolished,
    all those pretentious houses.”
        God’s Decree.
    

Amos 2: Judgment on Israel

In Amos 2 we read judgements against Moab, Judah and Israel, but the text focus on Israel.
The Lord is upset with the response that Israel gave to His love, instead of one loving another, people were greedy:

6-8 (...)
They buy and sell upstanding people.
    People for them are only things — ways of making money.
They’d sell a poor man for a pair of shoes.
    They’d sell their own grandmother!
They grind the penniless into the dirt,
    shove the luckless into the ditch.
Everyone and his brother sleeps with the ‘sacred whore’—
    a sacrilege against my Holy Name.
Stuff they’ve extorted from the poor
    is piled up at the shrine of their god,
While they sit around drinking wine
    they’ve conned from their victims.

Our world is not so different: "people are only things - ways of making money". The great problem is that the Lord showed love to Israel:
    

9-11
“In contrast, I was always on your side.
    I destroyed the Amorites who confronted you,
Amorites with the stature of great cedars,
    tough as thick oaks.
I destroyed them from the top branches down.
    I destroyed them from the roots up.
And yes, I’m the One who delivered you from Egypt,
    led you safely through the wilderness for forty years
And then handed you the country of the Amorites
    like a piece of cake on a platter.
I raised up some of your young men to be prophets,
    set aside your best youth for training in holiness.
Isn’t this so, Israel?”

Thus, the Lord expected love from His people.
So I ask myself: the Lord showed love to me. Am I showing love to others? I am afraid the answer is "not so much".

Amos 1: the Lord is against nations around Israel/Judah.

Amos was a sheepherd in Takoa, Judah. He received a message from the Lord concerning Israel when Israel was doing fine economically in times of Jeroboam II. Reading the Old Testament, we see that the Lord loved Israel despite its idolatry.
We read:

2 The Message:
God roars from Zion,
    shouts from Jerusalem!
The thunderclap voice withers the pastures tended by shepherds,
    shrivels Mount Carmel’s proud peak.

The temple is in Jerusalem, Judah and the Lord shouts from there. His voice can be heard in distant places such as Mount Carmel in Israel.
The Lord is against Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom and Ammon. They mistreated the people of the Lord. For instance Gaza turned Israelites as slaves and sold them to Edom:

6-8 God’s Message:
“Because of the three great sins of Gaza
    —make that four—I’m not putting up with her any longer.
She deported whole towns
    and then sold the people to Edom.
For that, I’m burning down the walls of Gaza,
    burning up all her forts.
    (...)

One application of this text is that the Lord knows I belong to his people. Although I may be mistreated by others (because I belong to Him), I believe that the Lord is taking care of me. Eventually, He will deal with those that mistreated me.    

Joel 3: Judgement day

The book o Joel finishes saying:

1-3 “In those days, yes, at that very time
    when I put life back together again for Judah and Jerusalem,
I’ll assemble all the godless nations.
    I’ll lead them down into Judgment Valley
And put them all on trial, and judge them one and all
    because of their treatment of my own people Israel.
They scattered my people all over the pagan world
    and grabbed my land for themselves.
They threw dice for my people
    and used them for barter.
They would trade a boy for a whore,
    sell a girl for a bottle of wine when they wanted a drink.

Jerusalem is not alive as in older days. The Lord will renew Jerusalem in the last days. The Lord will assemble all the godless nations against Israel (are we in the last days?), but the Lord will defend His people:

15-17
“The sky turns black,
    sun and moon go dark, stars burn out.
God roars from Zion, shouts from Jerusalem.
    Earth and sky quake in terror.
But God is a safe hiding place,
    a granite safe house for the children of Israel.
Then you’ll know for sure
    that I’m your God,
Living in Zion,
    my sacred mountain.
Jerusalem will be a sacred city,
    posted: ‘no trespassing.’
Milk Rivering out of the Hills

It is difficult to understand with our heart that "God is a safe hiding place", but it will become very clear in the last days. Besides, the Lord is gracious:


18-21
(...) Meanwhile, Judah will be filled with people,
    Jerusalem inhabited forever.
The sins I haven’t already forgiven, I’ll forgive.”
    God has moved into Zion for good.
    

Joel 2: Repent before Judgement Day!

Joel 2 calls Israel to repent before Judgement Day. The Lord is preparing an army of locusts that will devour everything:

3 Before it arrives, the country is like the Garden of Eden.
    When it leaves, it is Death Valley.
    Nothing escapes unscathed.

11 God’s Judgment Day — great and terrible.
    Who can possibly survive this?

The Lord calls Israel to repentance before Judgement Day:

13-14
Change your life, not just your clothes.
    Come back to God, your God.
And here’s why: God is kind and merciful.
    He takes a deep breath, puts up with a lot,
This most patient God, extravagant in love,
    always ready to cancel catastrophe.
Who knows? Maybe he’ll do it now,
    maybe he’ll turn around and show pity.
Maybe, when all’s said and done,
    there’ll be blessings full and robust for your God!

The Lord will not only save his people from the locust but He will also pour His Spirit on his people:

25-27
“I’ll make up for the years of the locust,
    the great locust devastation—
Locusts savage, locusts deadly,
    fierce locusts, locusts of doom,
That great locust invasion
    I sent your way.
You’ll eat your fill of good food.
    You’ll be full of praises to your God,
The God who has set you back on your heels in wonder.
    Never again will my people be despised.
You’ll know without question
    that I’m in the thick of life with Israel,
That I’m your God, yes, your God,
    the one and only real God.
Never again will my people be despised.

28-32 “And that’s just the beginning: After that—
“I will pour out my Spirit
    on every kind of people:
Your sons will prophesy,
    also your daughters.
Your old men will dream,
    your young men will see visions.
I’ll even pour out my Spirit on the servants,
    men and women both.
I’ll set wonders in the sky above
    and signs on the earth below:
Blood and fire and billowing smoke,
    the sun turning black and the moon blood-red,
Before the Judgment Day of God,
    the Day tremendous and awesome.
Whoever calls, ‘Help, God!’
    gets help.
On Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
    there will be a great rescue—just as God said.
Included in the survivors
    are those that God calls.”

It is very interesting that Joel 2:28-32 is referenced in Acts 2:17-21. It is also interesting that the Lord will pour His Spirit before Judgement Day, in the last days; so we are living in the last days before Judgement Day.

Joel 1: We live in chaos.

Due to the consequences of sin, we live in a chaos, in a world that doesn't properly support life.
The locusts eat our food:

4
What the chewing locust left,
    the gobbling locust ate;
What the gobbling locust left,
    the munching locust ate;
What the munching locust left,
    the chomping locust ate.

The invader, our enemy, has eliminated the wine:

5-7
Sober up, you drunks!
    Get in touch with reality—and weep!
Your supply of booze is cut off.
    You’re on the wagon, like it or not.
My country’s being invaded
    by an army invincible, past numbering,
Teeth like those of a lion,
    fangs like those of a tiger.
It has ruined my vineyards,
    stripped my orchards,
And clear-cut the country.
    The landscape’s a moonscape.

There is no food in the sanctuary of the Lord:

8-10
Weep like a young virgin dressed in black,
    mourning the loss of her fiancé.
Without grain and grapes,
    worship has been brought to a standstill
    in the Sanctuary of God.
The priests are at a loss.
    God’s ministers don’t know what to do.
The fields are sterile.
    The very ground grieves.
The wheat fields are lifeless,
    vineyards dried up, olive oil gone.

God's judgment day has come:
    
15-18
What a day! Doomsday!
    God’s Judgment Day has come.
The Strong God has arrived.
    This is serious business!
Food is just a memory at our tables,
    as are joy and singing from God’s Sanctuary.
The seeds in the field are dead,
    barns deserted,
Grain silos abandoned.
    Who needs them? The crops have failed!
The farm animals groan—oh, how they groan!
    The cattle mill around.
There’s nothing for them to eat.
    Not even the sheep find anything.    

Hosea 14: The Lord heals the apostasy

The Lord is good, we are not. He wants Israel despite her apostasy. He calls Israel to repent, He teaches Israel what to say when repented.

1-3 O Israel, come back! Return to your God!
    You’re down but you’re not out.
Prepare your confession
    and come back to God.
Pray to him, “Take away our sin,
    accept our confession.
Receive as restitution
    our repentant prayers.
Assyria won’t save us;
    horses won’t get us where we want to go.
We’ll never again say ‘our god’
    to something we’ve made or made up.
You’re our last hope. Is it not true
    that in you the orphan finds mercy?”

The Lord is the One who heals, apostasy included:    
    
4-8
“I will heal their waywardness.
    I will love them lavishly. My anger is played out.
I will make a fresh start with Israel.
    He’ll burst into bloom like a crocus in the spring. (...)


What will be the response of Israel - the One who heals? Will Israel turn to the Lord? The following verses appeals Israel to choose to live well. The Father wants us to live by his side, and have a meaningful life.

9
If you want to live well,
    make sure you understand all of this.
If you know what’s good for you,
    you’ll learn this inside and out.
God’s paths get you where you want to go.
    Right-living people walk them easily;
    wrong-living people are always tripping and stumbling.