"Seek me and live." In Chapter Five, the LORD speaks to Israel through Amos, urging them to avoid their religious formalism and to instead seek God. If the Israelites, who have turned "justice into bitterness," do not repent, God will bring down His righteous sentence. Amos testifies to God's power by acknowledging His creation of and command over the forces of nature. The leaders have "trample[d] on the poor," exploiting them for their own gain and denying them justice. Throughout history, God has desired a living, breathing relationship with man, and He sent His Son to guarantee His forgiveness to those who truly sought Him:
1. Deuteronomy 4:29: "But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul."
2. 1 Chronicles 28:9: "And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever."
3. John 17:3: "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."
4. Hebrews 11:6: "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."
"Let justice roll on like a river." The pride of the spiritual leaders had reached such great heights that God has become thoroughly disgusted with Israel's religious practice. God shows great concern for the poor and needy, whom He had urged the Israelites to love. In Israel, God provided for the poor by leaving sections of the fields unpicked. God declared His concern for the poor through the Mosaic law and in the Psalms:
"Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless;
maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed.
Rescue the weak and needy;
deliver them from the hand of the wicked." (82:3,4)
As God's representatives, the spiritual leaders had neglected their responsibility to the poor. Beyond neglect, however, they had enriched themselves at the poor's expense, while luxuriating in their palaces.
"The day of the LORD." While the Israelites see this event as bringing them justice, they will instead face "darkness, not light./ It will be as though a man fled from a lion/ only to meet a bear... " While God would spare some judgment, Amos's several visions point to a certain punishment. He would destroy the "high places" but also would deny the people His presence:
"The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD,
"when I will send a famine through the land--
Not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.
Men will stagger from sea to seas
and wander from noth to east,
Searching for the word of the LORd,
but they will not find it."
Yet, in His great compassion, God still promises that He will not totally destroy Israel. He will "restore/ David's fallen tent" and bring the people back to the land He had given them. Here, we have a beautiful picture of redemption: while the people deserve complete destruction as a sentence of God's justice, He instead shows mercy. In a similar vein for us, our sin bears severe consequences, but God does restore us daily so that we may live for Him.
QUESTIONS
1. What examples of oppressing the poor do you see today? What can you do about it?
2. Does God's justice seem warranted in today's world? How can you thank Him for His mercy?
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