Amos: Seek The Lord and LiveParaugs

Does God like your church meetings? He didn’t like those in Israel: ‘I hate … I despise … I will not accept … I will have no regard for … I will not listen to …’ I expect that this Sunday there will be church services up and down the land that God will hate. They will stink offensively to Him (v. 21). 

They may well be church leaders breaking bread earnestly while God says, ‘I hate that.’ There may be crowds of 1000s swaying intensely as they sing songs while God says, ‘I hate that.’ There may be preachers delivering impeccably crafted sermons which people diligently transcribe while God says, ‘I hate that.’ Note that it is not that God hates all gatherings, but that these features demonstrated something that was wrong in Israel. He said to the Israelites that He hated ‘your’ festivals, assemblies, songs, harps. There was something about Israel that made their ‘worship’ obnoxious. The lacking element is revealed again in verse 24: their religion did not affect their behaviour. 

It’s a beautiful picture in verse 24, famously used by Martin Luther King. Justice is not meant to be something that you turn your mind to for one hour a week. It is meant to be continuous, always rolling, never fading. 

In a brief history lesson in verses 25–26, the Lord reminds the Israelites of their 40 years in the wilderness. This text is a little tricky but Amos implies that they had not only offered sacrifices; there was a concern for justice then too (much as in v. 24). But now they merely worship convenient gods of their making. 

For us today, what is religion that the Lord finds acceptable? James 1:26–27 tells us, ‘Those who consider themselves religious and yet do not keep a tight rein on their tongues deceive themselves, and their religion is worthless. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.’

Reflection

What do your church gatherings look like? Do they produce justice that rolls like a river? Does your religion have a concern for the powerless?