Read Amos 5:1-25

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE

“Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living.” (Amos‬ ‭5:24‬ ‭NLT‬‬)‬‬

When we think of God’s people, we tend to think one of two things. We might think of the Israelites who were God’s “chosen people”, or we might think of specific characters in the Bible. Either way, we tend to idealize the people we are thinking about. For instance, we may think that God’s people are super faithful, holy, perform miracles and live wholly devout and righteous lives. Unfortunately, this idealism enables us to distance ourselves from being God’s people, because we feel that we fall short of those ideals. As such, I have decided to write a devotion series on specific characters in the Bible in order to show you how much these Biblical people are truly like us, and how much we are truly called to be God’s people.

Part 92: Amos. Again, with the prophets, little is known about their lives. With the exceptions of Elijah and Elisha, of which narratives were written, all that we have left of the prophets are their prophecies. This is certainly true of Amos. We have the book of prophecy that is attributed to him and little else.

With that said we know, by his own account, that Amos was from the Kingdom of Judah, although his ministry was spent in the Northern Kingdom of Israel. What’s more, he was not always a prophet. Prior to his call, he was a shepherd and a sycamore fig farmer (Amos 7:14).

This is important to note. All of the prophets whose books are in the Bible, found the need to mention how they were called to their prophetic ministry. None of them were trained, professional prophets. What this tells us is that there was suspicion among the common people for the prophets of their day and age. Why, one might ask? Because the professional prophets who were hired by the leaders were giving flowery words and accolades to their leaders rather than being honest, holding them accountable, and steering them back toward the LORD.

Thus, Amos defended his prophetic ministry by pointing out that he wasn’t such a “hired prophet”, but a true prophet hand picked by the LORD. “But Amos replied, ‘I’m not a professional prophet, and I was never trained to be one. I’m just a shepherd, and I take care of sycamore-fig trees. But the Lord called me away from my flock and told me, “Go and prophesy to my people in Israel.”’” (Amos‬ ‭7:14-15‬ ‭NLT‬‬)‬‬‬‬

Out of all the prophets, Amos spoke up the most about social justice. Actually, he wrote at a time of relative peace; yet, he wrote of the growing disparity between the wealthy and the poor. He was the first to push people “beyond thoughts and prayers”, and taught that prayers and empty rituals do not make up for bad deeds. He also taught about “privilege” and how it leads to apathy and escapism (Amos 4:4-5). He proclaimed God’s disgust at the empty rituals and he called out the 1% of society for making their profits off of the backs of the poor.

Ultimately, Amos believed that by oppressing the poor and failing to practice justice, Israel was not living righteously. And he gave voice to the proclamation of God, “Away with your noisy hymns of praise! I will not listen to the music of your harps. Instead, I want to see a mighty flood of justice, an endless river of righteous living” (Amos‬ ‭5:23-24‬ ‭NLT‬‬)‬‬

Clearly, Amos’ message made people of privilege and wealth feel uncomfortable. In fact, I am sure Amos’ message was a threat to them, much like it is to those of us who have it better than others in our own society. This is so true that the word “privilege” has become a trigger word for people who do not see themselves as privileged. People get incensed when they even hear the word; yet, the reality is that such people, myself included, have been afforded benefits that others have not been afforded.

The challenge for us is to try and understand the message without taking offense to it. It is God who is taking offense at those of us who are calling ourselves by Christ’s name, but opposing the justice and compassionate love that Christ embodies. Let us be a people that stand up for God’s justice and allow our prayers, which are important, to move us into action. Let us open up the floodgates to God’s river of righteousness, so that the waters of justice may roll on down. Let God’s Kingdom come, God’s will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. invoked “let justice roll down like water” (Amos 5:24) in his famous Letter from the Birmingham Jail.

PRAYER

Lord, help me to stand up for your justice and not stand int he way of it. Amen.