September 12th, 2015
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Seek the Lord and Live

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Opening Prayer

Gracious God, I look forward to this time with You. Energize me now with Your Spirit, I pray.

Read Amos 5:1-17

[1] Hear this word, Israel, this lament I take up concerning you: [2] “Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up.” [3] This is what the Sovereign LORD says to Israel: “Your city that marches out a thousand strong will have only a hundred left; your town that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left.” [4] This is what the LORD says to Israel: “Seek me and live; [5] do not seek Bethel, do not go to Gilgal, do not journey to Beersheba. For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will be reduced to nothing.” [6] Seek the LORD and live, or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire; it will devour them, and Bethel will have no one to quench it. [7] There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground. [8] 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. [9] With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold and brings the fortified city to ruin. [10] There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detest the one who tells the truth. [11] You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them; though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. [12] For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. [13] Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil. [14] Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is. [15] Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the LORD God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph. [16] Therefore this is what the Lord, the LORD God Almighty, says: “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. [17] There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst,” says the LORD.

Scripture taken from the THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, NIV Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Meditate

Spend a few moments prayerfully considering this question: What am I seeking in life?

Think Further

In the midst of the exuberant worship at Bethel the prophet sings a funeral dirge (2)! Israel is declared as good as dead, wiped out by military defeat (3). The disaster is the result of the meeting with God announced in 4:12 and is so great that all the population joins in the lamentation (16-17). Between these two laments Amos continues his critique of Israelite worship.

People spoke of going to the sanctuaries to seek the Lord; Amos says, “Stop going to church and start going to God” (4-5)! As we saw in chapter 4, he condemns their worship as sinful because it is self-seeking, not God-seeking. Evidence of this appears in the community life, which lacks justice and righteousness (7). These key covenant terms overlap, but “righteousness” emphasizes the individual’s responsibility to live according to the covenant while “justice” emphasizes the community’s responsibility to uphold the covenant by punishing wrongdoing and protecting the rights of the powerless. Amos lists ways in which justice and righteousness were being ignored (10-12): the poor are exploited and oppressed; the law is flouted; the course of justice is perverted by bribery; those who stand up for what is right are cowed into silence (10,13).

It is still not too late to seek the Lord genuinely and to live instead of die, but this will require a radical change in behavior (6,14-15): worship of the God of Israel, who looks for justice and righteousness in society and has compassion on the poor, the powerless and the oppressed. Those who do not seek these things in daily life are play-acting when they claim to be seeking God in the worship of the sanctuary. Beware! As Creator of the cosmos God has the power to destroy the wicked (8-9).

Apply

The Lord says, “Seek me and live” (4,6). In what ways can you seek the Lord? What spiritual practices bring you most alive in the Lord?

Closing prayer

Lord, help me to seek You wholeheartedly. Show me ways I need to change to reflect Your compassion, justice and righteousness better.

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