Read
Turn Back to the Lord
1Listen, nation of Israel,
to my mournful message:
2You, dearest Israel, have fallen,
never to rise again—
you lie deserted in your own land,
with no one to help you up.
3The Lord God has warned,
“From every ten soldiers
only one will be left;
from a thousand troops,
only a hundred will survive.”
4The Lord keeps saying,
“Israel, turn back to me
and you will live!
5Don't go to Gilgal or Bethel
or even to Beersheba.
Gilgal will be dragged away,
and Bethel will end up
as nothing.”
6Turn back to the Lord,
you descendants of Joseph,
and you will live.
If you don't, the Lord
will attack like fire.
Bethel will burn to the ground,
and no one can save it.
7You people are doomed!
You twist the truth
and trample on justice.
8 But the Lord created the stars
and put them in place.
He turns darkness to dawn
and daylight to darkness;
he scoops up the ocean
and empties it on the earth.
9God destroys mighty soldiers
and strong fortresses.
Choose Good
The Lord said:
10You people hate judges
and honest witnesses;
11you abuse the poor and demand
heavy taxes from them.
You have built expensive homes,
but you won't enjoy them;
you have planted vineyards,
but you will get no wine.
12I am the Lord, and I know
your terrible sins.
You cheat honest people
and take bribes;
you rob the poor of justice.
13Times are so evil
that anyone with good sense
will keep quiet.
14If you really want to live,
you must stop doing wrong
and start doing right.
I, the Lord God All-Powerful,
will then be on your side,
just as you claim I am.
15Choose good instead of evil!
See that justice is done.
Maybe I, the Lord All-Powerful,
will be kind to what's left
of your people.
Judgment Is Coming
16This is what the Lord has sworn:
Noisy crying will be heard
in every town and street.
Even farmers will be told
to mourn for the dead,
together with those
who are paid to mourn.
17Your vineyards will be filled
with crying and weeping,
because I will punish you.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
Reflect
God mourns. How strange is that? He experiences loss. Our high theology leaves no room for such sentiment. Yet Jesus came to show what God was like and Jesus wept.
How strange is that?
Amos pleads: “Turn back to the Lord, you descendants of Joseph, and you will live.” God cannot ignore the countless crimes of Israel and her neighbours but his objective is not to punish but to have no need to punish.
Yet people want expensive houses and do not care how they get them. They hate the just judge, the honest witness but love those who will accept a bribe. They rob and cheat: headlines and small print. Has anything changed?
To each he says, “choose good instead of evil.” To all he says “see that justice is done.” There is no private religion. What happens indoors and what happens in public, he sees it all, and mourns. Do we claim he is on “our side” while still doing what we know is wrong? Yet if we only start doing right, he will be.
“I let humans know what I am thinking.” He has called them to relent, to repent. His prophets, his preachers, call out his message. He who created mountains and the wind that whistles through them, whistles to us: Come here, “Get ready to face your God!” (4:12-13) Are you ready?
Reading the Old Testament can be harrowing. Fear and faith, hope and despair run like torrents through it. We are tempted to think it harsh, until we stop and consider the harshness, the cruelty, its human protagonists practised. Yet always is this refrain, the soft word spoken after every rebuke: mercy. God is “All-Powerful” but he always seeks to be kind, kinder than any of us deserve.
That is the cross: a rebuke to evil and a gift of mercy. It is a tree of kindness. Will we pick its fruit? Or do we keep feeding on what kills: the desire to be our own god, not learn to be like God?
Respond
Father who mourns, Son who weeps, Spirit who comforts, give to us what you are, so we may be your children.
Alexander Best
Alexander cultivated a network of Christian leaders, OneMission, to promote collaboration, including service to the 15,000 new students arriving at University of Toronto each fall, under the umbrella, ServeToronto. He helped foster the same at the PanAm Games in Toronto and is the former Canadian Director of the Lausanne Movement Canada. He publishes THisToronto, a social media platform promoting & connecting the activities of over 300 ministries and churches in the city."