Daily Blast - Minor Prophets: Day 10
Scripture
“Seek good and not evil—
and live!
You talk about God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
being your best friend.
Well, live like it,
and maybe it will happen.”
Reflection
We often can read chapters such as Amos 3-6 and think, ‘Wow, God is so mean! What is going on here? Why is He stopping them from having rain and other basic things like food? I thought God loved His people?’. These are some really good questions; and I find that with verses like these, knowing the context is really important.
The Israelites were a people set apart by God to be His chosen people. All He wants is to bless and prosper them, which is why we see Him protecting and providing for them throughout the Old Testament. In return, all God wants is for His people to involve Him in their lives and rely on Him to make things right. To do this, they need to turn from the evil things that other nations are doing, such as worshipping idols in particular. In this way, they will stand out as His people – because they don’t act like other people! That’s a huge responsibility.
The Israelites didn’t have the Holy Spirit yet (that happens in Acts!), so they didn’t have an inner moral compass written in their hearts and had to rely on prophets like Amos to communicate with God and speak for Him. They also had certain religious rules and offerings to follow to help them remember to turn back to God.
However, for the Israelites, these offerings had become more of a show, a going-through-the-motions kind of deal, and not genuine faith anymore. They’d begun turning to idols, and not to God, taking matters into their own hands.
This is why in Chapter 5, Amos is making a final call to the people to ‘seek good and not evil…’, to not just ‘talk’ about God being their God, but to actually ‘live like it’ (Amos 5:14 TM). He’s saying there’s still time to turn back to God, to seek Him, and to put things right. It’s a final call because, unless Israel sees the error of their ways, they are about to face a nasty enemy that will take them away from their homes and make them into slaves. God still wants the best for His people, but He also needs to see some genuine faith.
Challenge
We might not have actual physical ‘idols’ made of wood today, but instead, we have our phones, relationships, our appearance… chocolate even! These things are all great, but sometimes we can end up turning to them or using them as a cop-out for actually talking to God about things. This is especially true when we’re facing stressful or difficult situations – exams, break ups, bullying, peer pressure, sickness… even social isolation! The list goes on and is different for each of us.
Now, don’t get me wrong – these things aren’t BAD in and of themselves. No need to throw away your phone, swear off chocolate (I definitely couldn’t!) or never watch Netflix again! (Phew!)
What I’m saying is that these things shouldn’t replace actually talking to God and having a real relationship with Him. We shouldn’t just talk the talk, and then not actually live by what we claim to believe.
Fortunately, we don’t have to go and sacrifice a goat or fear enemy kings coming and capturing us to talk to God. If you’ve accepted God into your life, then that means that you already have the Holy Spirit in you. That means all you need to do is talk to Him. Reading the Bible is a great way to hear from God and gain wisdom and tools so that we can live a life that makes us stand out to others.