Grieving for what the world has become

In Amos 5, the prophet Amos looks around him and grieves for what this nation has become. This was God’s chosen people, delivered out of slavery in Egypt and led to the Promised Land. God made it clear how He wanted His people to live. His laws were just and right and set out the best way for this community to thrive. They had everything going for them – God’s promised provision and protection.

But look at what a mess they made of it all. How could it all go so horribly wrong?

Amos can do nothing but lament. He’s grieving for what could have been, wailing for all that has been lost.

He feels this deeply. A lament is ‘a passionate expression of grief or sorrow’. He can see a glimpse of what is to come, causing him to mourn for his beloved nation.

‘Fallen is Virgin Israel,
never to rise again,
deserted in her own land,
with no one to lift her up.’  Amos 5:2

Fallen. Dishonoured and shamed. Without hope of restoration. Deserted. Abandoned and forsaken. Godforsaken. Isolated. Alone. Terribly alone.

Through Amos, God tells His people that while they are strong now, they will become weak. Their armies will be greatly reduced. The numbers they’ve come to rely on for protection will be decimated. They’ve been depending on their own strength for so long that they cannot imagine that this could ever change. That one day, their strength and independence will count for nothing. For God did not create His people to live in that way. He created them to rely on Him. To trust and to obey.

And so He reminds them not to look anywhere else for strength and protection and provision but to Him. He alone loves them. He alone knows what they need. He alone can meet their needs.

Seek me and live…
Seek the Lord and live… Amos 5:4,6

This is how to live.

God’s holy nation have forgotten how to live. All that matters to their God no longer matters to them.

There are those who turn justice into bitterness
and cast righteousness to the ground. Amos 5:7

There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court
and detest the one who tells the truth.
You levy a straw tax on the poor
and impose a tax on their grain.  Amos 5:10,11

There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes
and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.  Amos 5:12

Bot God is God. The Creator God. The mighty God. The God of the whole universe.

He who made the Pleiades and Orion,
who turns midnight into dawn
and darkens day into night,
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the land –
the Lord is his name.  Amos 5:8

This all-powerful God can use His power to destroy as well as create. And He will. All that the people have been building up for themselves will be destroyed before they even have time to enjoy it.

For I know how many are your offences
and how great your sins.  Amos 5:12

God cannot make it any more plain. It’s all very simple.

Seek good, not evil,
that you may live.
Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you,
just as you say he is.
Hate evil, love good;
maintain justice in the courts.  Amos 5:14-15

Every single day, seek good and not evil. Every single minute of ever single day, hate evil and love good.

That’s it.

Now of course, what that looks like in practice may not be all that simple. It may lead us into complicated situations we’d rather avoid. Confrontation maybe. Standing up for good and for God may require discomfort, embarrassment, negative reaction, sacrifice.

We have a choice to make, just as the people at the time of Amos had a choice to make. But if they choose to stay as they are, to carry on as they have been, or refuse to choose at all and just go with the flow, then the outcome looks pretty bleak.

‘There will be wailing in all the streets
and cries of anguish in every public square.
The farmers will be summoned to weep
and the mourners to wail.
There will be wailing in all the vineyards,
for I will pass through your midst,’
says the Lord.  Amos 5:16-17

We’re living in tough times. Confusing times. Keeping our heads down and just looking out for ourselves is no longer an option. We have to confront evil and stand for good. Wherever we come across it. God needs His people to stand up for good. To share His love. To show the world His way. His truth. His life.