Amos 5:17. "'[A]nd in all the vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through the midst of you.' says the Lord."

I think of vineyards as happy places - they're growing the grapes for wine, after all! I certainly would think of a vineyard through which God was passing as a happy place - probably the happiest place! Yet Amos says there will be wailing in the vineyards when God passes through. Why? Because the people have forgotten God. They may give Him lip service, but they "afflict the righteous ... and turn aside the needy." (Amos 5:12).

Having forgotten God, and that their vineyards are gifts from him, when God passes through these places of comfort, the people will feel very uncomfortable indeed. God will feel like an interloper in their vineyards, not as a welcome guest. His mere presence will remind them of their wickedness, and that everything they have, including their vineyards, is on loan from Him. He can take it back whenever He pleases, and Amos is warning that He plans to do so.

That is why they will wail. They will see God and realize they have forsaken Him and therefore lost His good favor, and with it, their vineyards and everything else.