Greetings to you all greatly beloved of God and welcome to another episode of our daily study of the Scriptures. We bless the name of the Lord God for the gift of life and for His benefits on us each new day. Praise be to God!
In our today’s episode 605, we shall be examining the book of Amos Chapter 5 titled:
This Is A Call To Repentance; Will People Respond?
Looking at the wickedness of the people of Israel coupled with their high taste for idolatry and their refusal to return to God despite various pleas and warnings, Prophet Amos decided to open this chapter with a gentle and pitiful expression of grief in form of a funeral song. You will find this in verses 1-2
He composed that funeral song for the Israelites because he already saw ahead what would become of them eventually. That was why he decided to mourn for them.
Remember what Proverbs 29:1 says?
” If you get more stubborn every time you are corrected, one day you will be crushed and never recover.”
Having seen how they would be crushed in the future by the consequences of their own actions, the prophet then earnestly exhorted them to renounce their idols and return to God and pledge their loyalty to Him, Amos 5:3.
Not only that, Prophet Amos also chastised them for their act of injustice and oppression of the poor and pleaded with them to repent. Unfortunately, all efforts proved abortive.
That was why he resorted to threatening them in verses 10-24
The chapter concludes with the fact that their idolatry has become something they were already used to.
National guilt has increased, which kept on adding to their punishment proportionately.
The only way of escape is wearing a genuinely repentant heart. Read Amos 5:25-27.
Remember in 2Kings 10:32-33, they already had a brief taste of captivity when they were taken captive to Damascus, to a rational human being, it is expected that that experience should have taught them some hard lessons but unfortunately, it did not and then in 2Kings 15:29 and 2Kings 17:6, more punishments were added in that they would have to make further trip to Assyria.
In the midst of all these, the Israelites were fond of observing their religious festivals, probably using that to find a soft landing with God. But let’s see what Amos says concerning that in verse 4.
4The Lord says to the people of Israel, “Come to me, and you will live. 5 Do not go to Beersheba to worship. Do not try to find me at Bethel—Bethel will come to nothing. Do not go to Gilgal—her people are doomed to exile.
And also in verse 21.
The Lord says, “I hate your religious festivals; I cannot stand them!
This seems to be in complete agreement with what Jesus says to the Samaritan woman He was having a chat with by the well in John 4:21
21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the time will come when people will not worship the Father either on this mountain or in Jerusalem (Good News Translation)
Where will they worship?
Verses 23-24 answered that question already… “in Spirit and Truth…”
It is not enough to mark register in physical buildings, our hearts must also be registered with God.
Amos told these people, stop running to Beersheba or Bethel trying to look for God, all these physical locations will crumble but your heart with God is what is very crucial.
Our hearts must be full of genuine love for God and humanity. If we claim to love God but we are oppressing our fellow humans, then our love is fake. We do not love God.
This is why, Amos says in verse 24.
Instead, let justice flow like a stream, and righteousness like a river that never goes dry.
Grace be with you all…
To be continued…stay tuned and stay blessed.
Let’s pray as we declare this together:
I am a product of God’s Love. I receive the grace of God to do what is right always and to extend God’s love to the people around me, in Jesus name.
Bible Readings For Today: Micah Chapters 6 & 7 with Isaiah 41
I call you blessed now and always.
Saturday November 28, 2020 (DDMI)
