Written by: Seven young people from the city of Londonderry in Northern Ireland
Amos 4 v 12-13
“So this is what I will do to you, Israel; because I will do this
to you, get ready to meet your God, Israel.”
He is the one who makes the mountains and creates the wind and makes his thoughts
known to people.
He changes the dawn into darkness and walks over the mountains of the earth.
His name is the LORD God All-Powerful.
Notes
Take a moment to meditate on God’s power; the vast mountains and strong
winds that play a part in his awesome creation. The beauty of this world is
sometimes beyond our comprehension but yet our all-powerful Lord wants to meet
us at our level. He “knows those who are his” and wants to have
a personal relationship with us.
How does he make his thoughts known to people?
The Bible – God has given us a book packed with guidance, wisdom, encouragement
and comfort. Daily reading gives us the spiritual nourishment we need and helps
us to know where to turn in good and bad times.
The Holy Spirit – When we accept Jesus as our Saviour the Holy Spirit
lives in us, letting us know what the right option is.
Prayer – Possibly the most powerful way to discover God’s thoughts,
faithful and persistent talking and listening to God will open up doors you
didn’t even see.
God has given these things so that we can experience his love and correction as he leads us. It is vital that we don’t just listen and absorb, but that we let his thoughts take a hold of our lives as we take more territory for the Lord.
Prayer
Lord, I know that you have a plan for my life and you want me to follow it.
I am your servant, and I’m ready to act. Amen
Amos 5 v 1-3
Listen to this funeral song that I sing about you, people of Israel.
“The young girl Israel has fallen, and she will not rise up again.
She was left alone in her own land, and there is no one to help her up.”
This is what the Lord GOD says:
“If a thousand soldiers leave a city, only a hundred will return; if a
hundred soldiers leave a city, only ten will return.”
Notes
The context for today’s reading is actually back in Amos 4 v 4. The people
are worshipping in the main centres of worship and yet sin is piling up in
their lives. Amos starts with a song; it’s actually a funeral song which
was sung with loud wailing and lamenting.
Imagine wailing for a funeral, and yet no funeral and no one else wailing. This funeral song is a warning that, unless there is change, the conclusion to their choice of lifestyle is judgement. That judgement would be destructive - as Amos says, a thousand people reduced to one hundred.
Another word we could use for judgement is accountability. Accountability or judgement is not just saved up for some day in our future. Often our actions have built-in accounts. For Israel it would be the decimation of the nation by Assyria, which would destroy them. What about you and I? We could probably work out the conclusions to our own actions and choices. At least God kept sending people like Amos to draw them back to him.
It is the same today. God keeps prompting us to make changes now rather than face the consequence of wrong actions or choices. If judgement is inevitable then what should we do? First, let God act - he didn’t remove judgement, he let Jesus absorb it on the cross. You and I can now react, we can let Jesus fulfil the role in our lives. Ask him to forgive you, ask him to live in your life, your action and lifestyle. Next we need to examine our lives. Like Israel we can go through the process of worship and still happily sin. Draw a line in the sand and stop doing what draws judgement. Let’s transform the funeral song into something worth singing.
Prayer
Lord, thank you that you sent your son to die on the cross for me. Help me
to face up to the things in my life that need changing, so that I can be
more like you. Amen
Amos 5 v 4-7
This is what the LORD says to the nation of Israel:
“Come to me and live.
But do not look in Bethel or go to Gilgal, and do not go down to Beersheba.
The people of Gilgal will be taken away as captives, and Bethel will become
nothing.”
Come to the LORD and live, or he will move like fire against the descendants
of Joseph.
The fire will burn Bethel, and there will be no one to put it out.
You turn justice upside down, and you throw on the ground what is right.
Notes
The desire to be alive, or at least as alive as those around us, is compelling.
We sometime do this to the point of looking for that life in places or people
deep down we know won’t sustain us in the long term. God breaks into
that today with a good alternative that you may want to consider: “Come
to me and live”.
Bethel, Gilgal and Beersheba were famous to those listening to Amos. These were important places of life; the people had previously gained some sense of significance there. They were looking for meaning in almost the right place, but their looking was disconnected from God. As a nation, Israel was in the midst of some bad days, and they were looking for significance in old places, places they should have outgrown by now.
You may be thinking that God has left you, but really he may be trying to show us the wrong things in our lives. Difficulties in life can bring that same life into such a sharp focus that change is the only way out. “You turn justice upside down, and you throw on the ground what is right” - this for Israel is the place of change. If they can make it here, they can make it. What about you? Are you going to come to God and live? Are you living in that “almost” place, it seems right but there’s just something missing? What is your place of change and can you make it in both senses?
Prayer
Lord, today speak into my life words that will propel me out of lifelessness,
I’m ready to give up on those practices and conversations that are
going nowhere. Bring me to the place of change and show me what I’ve
outgrown. Amen
Amos 5 v 8-9
God is the one who made the star groups Pleiades and Orion; he changes darkness
into the morning light, and the day into dark night.
He calls for the waters of the sea to pour out on the earth.
The LORD is his name.
He destroys the protected city; he ruins the strong, walled city.
Notes
People turn away from God without realising who God is. They’re scared
that if they discover what he’s all about, they’ll have to accept
it and lose their party lifestyle. However, this passage shows us that the
vastness of the Lord’s power is something to embrace and not discard.
He made the star groups and knows them by name. He has control of darkness
and light. He can flood the earth and destroy even the strongest walled city.
How can anybody not stand in awe of this?
As a Christian, it is an assurance to know that, if the creator of the earth and everything in it is on our side, then nothing should worry us or cause us any concern. By offering up our problems to God, he will surely deal with them just as he deals with every detail of the universe. Romans 8 v 31 says “…If God is with us, no one can defeat us.” In Amos 5 v 8 it says, “He changes darkness into the morning light, and the day into dark light.” Taken in its literal sense we must be amazed at his power. However we could also view it from a different perspective. God is active in the world to transform and renew it from the evil/sin/darkness of the world and to replace it with goodness/saints/and light. As Christians we are those saints that the Lord uses to flood the world with the light of Jesus.
Prayer
Lord, I accept my role to be a saint through which my world may see how awesome
you are. Amen
Amos 5 v 10-13
You hate those who speak in court against evil, and you can’t stand
those who tell the truth.
You walk on poor people, forcing them to give you grain.
You have built fancy houses of cut stone, but you will not live in them.
You have planted beautiful vineyards, but you will not drink the wine from
them.
I know your many crimes, your terrible sins.
You hurt people who do right, you take money to do wrong, and you keep the
poor from getting justice in court.
In such times the wise person will keep quiet, because it is a bad time.
Notes
This reading begins and ends about speaking. The lines that fall between are
about abuse. Actually there is little communication between the abused and
the abusers. The abused have lost their rights and become an inconvenience,
and are treated as a commodity devoid of humanity.
What has this to do with you? Simple - your voice. Start to speak out. Amos says, “In such times the wise person will keep quiet, because it is a bad time.” Either Amos is contradicting his own lifestyle or he is being ironic. I think he is being ironic, maybe even quoting his own king who wanted him to go and speak in Judah and leave him alone. Who will you not leave alone? Did you take part in Make Poverty History, have you bothered to research fair-trading?
I’m writing this from Northern Ireland. We have just heard that one third of our children live in poverty; I’m now asking myself how I’m going to speak up. What abuse/oppression do you know of in your area or nation? Will you write to your national leader? Don’t end this day without “speaking out”. The other thing you can do is act differently to the culture of the “bad days”. Reverse this passage - search out and love those who exercise justice and highlight evil.
Stop using others so you stay on top, serve those who you tend to avoid. Don’t hurt other people. Make a difference for those who find it hard to make ends meet. In such things the wise do speak up and so stop the bad days. Get involved. Speak up.
Prayer
Lord, don’t let this day end until I have acted or spoken up for those
abused by the days and people which are bad. Amen
Notes
Today “try” is the first word we read. Another word the Bible uses
for try is “seek”. Matthew 6 v 33 talks about “seeking” God’s
kingdom first. To put it another way, try God’s kingdom first. This means
in our Christian life we should put God first and let everything else fall
into place as God has planned. By keeping our eyes on God, he will lead us
into “good” things; as a result we experience being “light” to
the world.
However, we don’t always focus on God. This allows temptation and our weaknesses to cause us to feel that we are falling into the “darkness” of this world. The words of Amos, “Try to do good, not evil,” become a word of warning to how we live our daily lives in this place where corruption and darkness appear to rule.
Another thing that stands out is the final line of the passage. This verse shows scepticism/doubt by Amos through the word “maybe”. There seems to be a difference of opinion between Amos and the people as to whether lifestyle impacted on experiencing “the Lord God All-Powerful”.
To help you:
Firstly, focus on God.
Secondly, we can have doubts about our lifestyle. Start by talking to God about our doubts or to someone who understands the Bible to learn from our doubt.
Finally, we should always think about why we are doing things (try to do good). These questions should help when deciding whether to do something through the day:
Is it necessary?
Am I actually going to be doing good?
Would God want me to be doing it?
Prayer
Lord, I pray that you will guide me in all that I do today, may today’s
choices be in your will instead of my own.
Today help me pursue good in my actions and conversations. Amen
Amos 5 v 16-17
This is what the Lord, the LORD God All-Powerful, says:
“People will be crying in all the streets; they will be saying, ‘Oh,
no!’ in the public places.
They will call the farmers to come and weep and will pay people to cry out
loud for them.
People will be crying in all the vineyards, because I will pass among you to
punish you,” says the LORD.
Notes
The people of Israel had sinned against God, and Amos had been sent to bring
them warning of his coming judgment, “People will be crying in all
the streets”. All part of a bigger warning that, if they didn’t
humble themselves, the Lord’s punishment would move among them. The
people of Israel had developed one of the most contagious diseases of all
time - PRIDE. They had even started to pay people to cry for them, all that
noise and drama with no substance. When God moved among them, even then they
put on the show, such was the extent to which pride had taken hold. Is any
part of your life noise and show, even to the point where you believe it’s
true? If so let’s deal with that.
1. Before God – You probably already know where pride/show is present.
When you start praying to God about it, it is what the Bible calls humbling
ourselves before the Lord. It says if we humble ourselves he will lift us up.
Being acknowledged or being right because God brings it about is very different
from us causing it to happen. James 4 v 7 says, “So humble yourselves
before God.”
2. Before other people/ourselves - Philippians 2 v 3 says, “Don't be
selfish; don't live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking
of others better than yourself.”
Proverbs 3 v 34 says, “God sets himself against the proud but shows favour to the humble.”
Prayer
Father, forgive my independence, my self-promotion, for the tears and commotion
I cause when things don’t go my way. Move in me to humble me today.
In Jesus name, Amen.
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word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993 by Word Publishing Milton Keynes