Amos 4-6
God’s people had not been faithful to their God. Learning what I did the other day about Bethel being a hot spot for the worship of false gods, I am not certain exactly what it is God is calling them out for. Is it for making sacrifices and tithes to other ‘gods’? Or is it for going through the motions with these things for God while living however they please (including serving these other ‘gods’). Perhaps it’s both. Notice they are offering their thanksgiving sacrifice “of that which is leavened”. This is contrary to the unleavened sacrifices they are supposed to offer. Likewise, they are making their sacrifices and offerings with sin in their hearts. And so God rejects them. It is not the actions, it is the attitudes and motives that matter.
God made several attempts to remind His people that it is He who provides for them and He who protects them. He wanted them to acknowledge that He alone is God. But they did not listen and they did not return to Him. And so, God declared through Amos, His judgment comes. Even so, God continued to implore them to “Seek me and live” (Amos 5:4b) and to stop seeking these other ‘gods’. He implored them to “Seek good, and not evil, that you may live” (Amos 5:14b).
Sadly, I have learned through personal experience that the farther you let yourself drift from God (or the less intentionally you seek Him in your life), the more you stop up your ears and harden your heart to Him. The Israelites were busy pleasing themselves and living their lives the way they wanted while paying lip service to their God. They didn’t pay any heed to all of His warnings. They refused to hear; they refused to acknowledge.
We can read about these things and wonder why they couldn’t see the error of their ways. Why did they refuse to turn their hearts back to God? But I’m telling you it happens to all of us if we are not diligent to prevent it. I, for one, prefer it here, close to God. I don’t ever want to go back to just living my own life with God somewhere in the background. Even so, I know in my heart of hearts that if I find myself back in a very difficult, unpleasant, and time-challenged situation, it will take an extreme effort to not let God drift back to the background again. I want to be prepared next time, to see it coming, and to take the steps necessary to prevent it.
Gal. 1
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel” (Gal 1:6). Right. I think I was just talking about that…and so there is nothing new. The same problem that plagued the ancient Israelites plagued the early Church and still plagues us today. The Bible is relevant, people! The issue may no longer present as a golden calf or a pagan temple, but it is the same issue, none the less. As Paul goes on to say, “For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man?” (Gal 1:10a)
This takes me right back to what we just read in Amos. “Seek me and live” (Amos 5:4b). Seeking God earnestly and constantly is the only thing that can protect us from deceptions and distractions that would pull us away from Him. You cannot keep your eyes fixed on God without keeping Him right out there in front of you, which is exactly where He needs to stay. This is why we spend time reading His Word. And this is why I am making an effort to spend a little extra time dwelling on what I read. I want to plant it in my heart so that God can cultivate it and produce His fruit through it. Because I don’t want to be just a hearer of God’s Word. I want to live out His Word in my life.