89 JUSTICE LIKE A RIVER F O O T ================================
- H O L D
READING
89 JUSTICE LIKE A RIVER
PRAY Give me an understanding mind and a receptive heart, as I study your word, Lord. —————————————————————- READ Amos 5:1-27. —————————————————————- THINK Try to summarize in one sentence what Amos wants to see in the lives of the people. —————————————————————- FOCUS THE CHOICE (1-13). Amos faced the people with a choice – that would first affect their lives here and now, and secondly would affect their destiny forever. It was choice between law and love, between treating those under them severely and relating to them in love and personal concern (10-12). But the choice runs deeper than this. In fact, it’s a matter of choosing between life with God and living death (4,6). THE RESPONSE (14-25). SHALLOW OPTIMISM. These people make an easy assumption that the Lord is with them and that when ‘the day of the Lord’ comes they will have their eternal reward (18-20). But it’s not that simple. Their hope is based solely on WORDS and not DEEDS – in fact, their deeds clearly deny the truth of what they claim to believe, as the rest of the reading shows. SINCERE OBEDIENCE. Thank God, there were people who lived by the spirit of verses 14, 15 and 24, and there still are. Their true goodness is fixed (15) and flowing (24) – fixed, because it is settled and determined manner of living, and flowing, because it is constantly bringing blessing to new lives and situations. ‘Shallow optimism’ is, imagining that merely SAYING that we believe in the Lord is all that is needed. ‘Sincere obedience’ is that quality of daily life which is seen when we genuinely open up our lives to God. —————————————————————- PRAY Pray for a holiness that results in greater awareness of God’s presence and of people’s needs. Ask God to show what needs to be done in your church.