Virtual Bible Study: Amos 2

Welcome to this week's Virtual Bible Study! Let's Get Started!

First Step: Read the Text. (This doesn't take too long). This Week’s Reading is Amos 1. You can read it here.

Second Step: Lesson/Focus Text

“For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath. Because they have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed...” Amos 2:4

How Bad Is It?

My daughter is known to exaggerate. Everything is drama for her. She either loves us SO much or she hates us and wants us to go away or die. It all depends on her mood. She can love us one moment more than anything, and she can want to kill us the next. It just depends. And everything is an exaggeration! Especially when we’re not doing what she wants.

Most of us don’t exaggerate as much as we did when we were four years old. We do the opposite. We downplay what is happening or find reasons and excuses for our own actions. We see a homeless man on the street or in the park, assume he is mentally ill or just lazy, and pass him by. We see our neighbor in pain across the way, their shoulders slumped down in sorrow, and we pass by the other way, thinking its none of our business. We hear of another’s surgery or illness, think about them once or twice, but never reach out in compassion toward them.

We downplay much in our life, especially as it relates to other people.

God however doesn’t. At least not in Amos. In fact, in Amos God sounds more like a four-year old, exaggerating the oppression and injustice in society! These are the words God uses in Amos to describe the actions of Israel against the poor and distressed...

- They sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals.
- They trample on the heads of the poor as upon the dust of the ground.
- They deny justice to the oppressed.
- Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name.
- They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge.
- In the house of their god they drink wine taken as fines.

Now I’m not sure which of these things you could say ACTUALLY happened just as they are described. I don’t know how many fathers and sons used the same girl or how many heads were actually trampled upon. I think there is a little poetic license here. But still the point remains. Injustice against the poor is NOT ignored by God. It is seen in all its sinfulness, in all its stain, in all its horribleness. There is no way to get around it. There is no excuse.

God sends His messengers with words of warning to the oppressors. “I also raised up prophets from among your sons and Nazirites from among your young men. Is this not true, people of Israel?... But you made the Nazirites drink wine and command the prophets not to prophesy.” But the people do not listen. They fail to heed God’s warning. They fail to see the poor standing at their gates.

So, as Amos concludes in the final verses of chapter 2, God must shake the people up. The scales have been turned over. The poor are brought up. The rich made low. Even their massive armies cannot stand against the power of God as he turns the world on it’s head. This is the same reversal that happens in Mary’s Magnificat as she glorifies God after hearing of she is pregnant with Jesus.

“He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.”

So what does this say to us? How do these words affect our lives? Or do they? Are these words relevant today? Or are they just the ramblings of a poor ancient shepherd that have nothing to do with how we live?

We, twenty-first century Christians and people of faith need to hear these words from Amos in all their seriousness. This is not an exaggeration. God cares about the poor! He cares about those who are at the bottom of society. And He wants you to care for them too! Even today, on your block there are people in need. People struggling to make ends meet. There are people on the street corners of every major city, sitting with small cardboard signs, crying out for help in more ways than one. There are abused people in every city and in every land. Standing in line with you at the grocery store. Sitting next to you in church. It’s time we wake up and pay attention!

It’s time we stand up for what is right. It’s time we quit ignoring them or making excuses for our own behavior around them and speak up for them against their injustice. It’s time we say we’re sorry we can’t help more than we do! The least we can do for those at the bottom of society is realize the gravity of their situation and understand, at least intellectually, how hard it must be to be living in their shoes. That’s a start. It’s a start of compassion. The start of love. And God can do amazing things with just a little of this. Look what God did with the sacrifice of one man, Jesus Christ! Over a billion people worship him. What can God do with your life given to the poor and needy?

Third Step: Questions to Ponder...
1. Confession time: How have you diminished the suffering of others? What excuses do you tell yourself when you are confronted with the needs of others on the street corners

2. Who living near you needs your compassion? How can you change their world through your own acts of kindness?

3. Even Jesus realized the poor would always be here. Still how can your heart go out to the needy? How can you be on the side of the poor and oppressed in this world?

Fourth Step: Email(if you like) your responses. You can just reply to this email or email it to craznluv@msn.com.

Fifth Step: Close with prayer...
God of the poor, you weep and mourn over how our world treats the least, the little, the lost, and the poorest. Help us to reach out in compassion and love toward those in need. Break our hearts that we may feel what you feel and know the extent of your love, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

See you Next Week!