Writing the Life-Giving Water devotionals is not only an important ministry, but is a deeply rewarding spiritual discipline for me as well. With that said, observing Sabbath (aka rest) is an important spiritual discipline as well. So here is a LOOK BACK to a devotion I wrote in the past. Read it, reflect on it, be challenged by it. Who knows how God will speak to you through it and how it will bear relevance in your life today? May the Holy Spirit guide you as you read the suggested Scripture and subsequent devotion.
Tag Archives: Amos
God’s People, part 92: Amos
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.
The Prophet’s Call
Read Amos 5:11-24
ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“Those who exploit the powerless anger their maker, while those who are kind to the poor honor God.” (Proverbs 14:31 CEB)
Two weeks ago, America was tuned into the 24 hour news cycle. It wasn’t because of some nefarious criminal, or some horrendous crime. It wasn’t because some celebrity was getting married or that some other celebrity was getting divorced. There were no major scandals, and for the first time in I am not sure how long, the news wasn’t very negative at all. Why was this? Because Pope Francis I was visiting the United States of America for the very first time. He started off in Washington D.C., headed from there to New York City, and finally ended up in Philadelphia. The news, and the country, could not get enough of it!
With that said, not ALL of the news was positive. All of the commentators seemed happy that the Pope was here and they were praising him and his papacy; however, with that said, some commentators objected to some of Pope Francis’s stances. Some disagreed with his stance on climate change, while others disagreed with his stance on capital punishment. Some were astounded that the Pope would come to the U.S.A and talk about the injustice found within the golden calf we call capitalism. Some were upset he interjected in our ongoing immigration debate.
“With all due respect to the Holy Father,” I heard one commentator state, “he really should stick with things of a religious nature and leave the politics to the politicians. He’s the head of the church, and while at the Vatican he is also the head of state, America is not a theocracy and he is out of his league speaking in politics here.” Some commentators opined that the Pope didn’t understand capitalism in American and that he only knew capitalism to be as it was in his country of Argentina: crony capitalism (as if that doesn’t exist here too).
Hearing all of the debates going back and forth made me question, was the Pope out of line for speaking out politically against things he felt were wrong, unjust and in need of change? Should a religious and/or spiritual leader simply keep to “religious” things and leave politics to the politicians? Of course the answer is both yes…and NO! Let me address “yes” first. If a religious leader is putting themselves out into the political sphere to garner political points or to receive political gain, then obviously that religious leader is acting inappropriately. If the religious leader is pushing an inherently political agenda for the purpose of getting a specific person elected, or to push his/her congregation to endorse a specific candidate, I will concede that the religious leader is in the wrong.
Yet, I object the claim that religious leaders should stick to religion and leave the politics to the politicians, because that inherently disregards what religion is and it denies the very station that religious leaders and prophets (Jesus included) have taken in society. You cannot divorce religion from politics, just because a religious leader’s message is inconvenient to one’s agenda. The fact is, if a society is acting unjustly, then it is the religious leaders duty to speak out against that injustice. That isn’t political…IT’S RELIGIOUS.
Religion literally means to reconnect or rejoin together. It is the reconnecting of our relationship with God and with our neighbors. It’s all about relationships. Therefore, if a society is in moral decline and/or if there is injustice and oppression within it, then it is counteracting the call of the Spirit to be in right relationship with God and neighbor. It is also hindering others from doing the same. It is a religious person’s duty, it is their obligation to speak out on those subjects no matter how inconvenient those truths might be. That can be done without naming people, without any hidden agenda and certainly without bashing or endorsing candidates; however, the faithful are called to stand up against oppression and injustice. As I see it, Pope Francis is leading the way. Don’t scoff, but join him in ending injustice.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” – Amos, Jewish prophet (circa 750’s BC)PRAYER
Lord, let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Strengthen me to speak your words of truth to the power. Amen.