In all generations, people fail to grasp the destructive power of evil. It robs a person and a people of time, of physical strength, and of quality of life. It creates the illusion that we are free and in control when in fact, we are enslaved to our desires and out of control. Though the fact that we are enslaved and out of control many cost us our health, cost is insignificant. It may rob us of much or all of what we produce, but it is worth what it costs. It often causes those we say we love the most to suffer terribly, but it is not our fault that they hurt. Life is needlessly shortened, but we are deceived into believing we are lengthening life by making living worthwhile.
No matter what happens as a result of our attitudes and actions, it is always others fault. Later, people will analyze the reasons for our failures, but we never see nor recognize those reasons. In our eyes, we are never accountable for our mistakes. Though our ethics and morals are horrible, what happens is never a matter of ethics or morals. Our society crumbles around us as justice dies, the righteous are opposed, and the good are treated as enemies. Yet, if someone seriously asks, How are things? we seriously reply, Everything is fine!
It is amazing how rotten a society can be as its people pronounce it good! What commonly are the criteria used to measure peoples attitudes and conduct? Is it a matter of finances? A matter of fulfillment of desires? A matter of standard of living? Or is it a matter of justice? A matter of respect for people? A matter of commitment to right and good? What determines when a people are successful? What determines when a society is beneficial and worthwhile?
Often what people view as evidences of success are viewed by God as indicators of failure. People often in some way couple concepts of social success with financial success expressed in improvement of physical lifestyle. In societies, God defines success in the way people treat people. It is quite possible for a society to be successful in its own eyes while (at the same moment) it is seen as a failure in Gods eyes.
In the book of Amos, the Kingdom of Israel would have said they were quite successful. The elite of society had an incredible lifestyle. The nation enjoyed a lengthy period of national prosperity. Jeroboam II had a lengthy reign, so the society enjoyed political stability. If people were in the right levels of their society, existence was incredibly good.
However, if you were stuck in the lower levels of society, people struggled to exist and endured continual injustice. Your level in society actually determined if life was good or life was terrible.
God speaking through Amos said your condition is terrible. You need Me whether you know it or not. The pronouncement that matters is not yours (All is great!) but Mine (All is terrible).
First, consider your need (5:1-3). You have fallen, and you will not get up again. You are like a helpless virgin who has fallen in a field outside of the city. She is defenseless, and there is no one who will come to protect her in her vulnerable condition. Whether you know it or not, you also are defenseless, and no one will come to protect you. Though you think you are strong, soon you will have reason to mourn how few remain.
Second, realize Who I am. Do not trust in your cities, your territory, or your defenses. Your security does not lie in any of those. Your security lies in Me. If My protection is lost, you will be consumed as if a fire devoured you. Do not think your strength is in yourselves. You will not make yourselves strong by making justice weak and holding righteousness in contempt!
I am the One Who made the stars you worship, Who changes the darkness of night into the light of morning, and Who takes water from the sea and puts it on the earth. I am the One who destroys the physically strong.
Third, contrast what I can do with what you have done. You hate the man who judges with integrity (you want a justice that can be bought and sold rather than a justice that is concerned with what is right). You charge the poor impossible rent and tax them unfairly (you make poor peoples existence impossibly difficult). While you do that to those who have little or no choice, you live in expensive houses.
Here is what will happen to you. You will plant vineyards, but you will not own the vineyards when they produce. I know every wrong you have done, and your wrongs are huge! (You made the righteous miserable, you made justice a matter of economics, and you refused to listen to cases of poor people.) It is all going to come crashing down upon you. If you are smart, you will keep quiet instead of making matters worse by trying to justify yourselves.
Fourth, it is time for you to repent! I, God, am the only hope you have! Saying, I am sorry! is not enough. It is time to search for good instead of following evil. You will do so because you despise evil and love good! It is time to stop making justice a matter of moneybribes are evil!
Thenand only thenmaybe I will listen to you and be gracious.
Our mistakes are always small in our eyes. That is not the issue! The real issue is what size our mistakes are in Gods eyes. This text suggests there is a connection between (1) Our mistakes bringing us physical prosperity, and (2) The size of our mistakes in Gods eyes.
For Thought and Discussion
1. What have people always failed to grasp?
2. No matter what happens as a result of our attitudes and actions, what do we commonly do?
3. Regardless of how rotten a society is, what do people in that society often do?
4. Often what people see as evidences of social success are seen by God as what?
5. In Amos, the elite of the Kingdom of Israel had what? What about the poor?
6. People in the Kingdom of Israel were like what?
7. What did they need to realize?
8. What had they done?
9. Why would they plant vineyards but not own the vineyards when they produced?
10. What was it time to do?
11. What connection does Amos suggest?
Link to Teacher's Guide
Lesson 7