The One who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them out over the face of the earth-Yahweh is his name.  He brings destruction on the strong, and it falls on the stronghold.  They hate the one who convicts the guilty at the city gate and despises the one who speaks with integrity.  Therefore, because you trample on the poor and exact a grain tax from him, you will never live in the houses of cut stone you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted. For I know your crimes are many and your sins innumerable. They oppress the righteous, take a bribe and deprive the poor of just at the gates. Therefore, the wise person will keep silent at such a time, for the days are evil so that you may live, and the LORD, the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you have claimed.   Amos 5:8-14 HCSB

I love that it starts by reminding us of the great power of our Creator, lest we forget.  We are reminded that with this great power He can easily destroy us and our land.  He can destroy the stronghold.  Has a particular sin taken a stronghold in your life?  Well, God can destroy it.  All you have to do is ask for his help.

The rest of the scripture passage reads like any news report which could speak of our federal, state, or local government today.  Now this was written around 751 BC.  Isn’t it amazing that it is so relevant to today.  There are those who hate justice and hate the truth, hmm.  In Louisiana we are getting taxes thrown at us like water on a raging fire.  But there is a warning for those that hate justice and the truth and for those that levy taxes on the poor.  God knows their offenses and how great their sins are.  Those little things that you may be doing behind closed doors or in the cover of darkness, God knows all about it. So while the guilty are let free from the prisons and the taxpayers are being taxed even more to pay for it, are we calling this justice? You see, God loves justice.  His word tells us that we are to seek justice and love mercy (Micah 6:8).

You can go and sit in any courtroom and you will see that the poor are often deprived of justice.  You will see those who oppress the innocent and take bribes.  Back in 751 BC, Amos says that the times are evil.  Wow!  So here we are in 2018 and guess what my friend, the times are evil.  Sounds like not much has changed, right?

Well, I wouldn’t want to be the one that taxes the poor, hates justice, detests the truth, oppresses the innocent, takes bribes and deprives the poor of justice, because we know that God is not going to honor this type of behavior.  Proverbs 22:9 tells us that whoever oppresses a poor man insults his Maker, but he who is generous to the needy honors him.  Isaiah 5:20 tells us, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

But all is not lost,  God gives us an out  in verse 14.  We are told to seek good, not evil, that we may live.  If we focus on God and seek His will, we will live.  We must learn to put God first in our lives.  When we do this and keep our focus on Him, He handles everything else for us (Matthew 6:33-34).  Great news, right?

The thing that we must keep in mind is that while honoring God here on earth is sometimes difficult to do, by doing so we are storing up rewards in heaven.  We are making plans for a wonderful eternity in glory with God the Father.  By honoring ourselves on earth and not God, well the alternative is eternity in hell.

So today you have a choice to make, you can be a big shot here on earth and oppress the poor and detest justice and the truth and maybe even make yourself rich by taking bribes, but your eternity will be miserable.  Or you can accept Christ as your savior, honor God, seek good and have a rich and rewarding life for all time to come.  The choice is yours, I pray that you choose wisely.  Sounds like a no-brainer to me.

Have a great day!