Let Justice Roll Down

Amos 5:18-27 ESV

Suppose you knew a man who religiously went to church and when he was at church he was kind and gentle. He was cordial to everyone but one day you found out the people he spent time with when he was not in church told you when he was with them he laughed about church.

He told them he really thought it was a joke but he only goes because he told his grandmother as she was dying he would go to church. She told him she could not let him inherit her fortune if he didn’t go to church, so he agreed to go to church. He did not tell her he believed in God or the Son of God. He only told her he would go to church.

When you found out he was only going to church so he could inherit her fortune you were heartbroken because he wasn’t really the man he pretended to be.

In Amos 5:18-27 the prophet told the people of Israel: 

“Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light, as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him.Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it? “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them. Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves, and I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.”

It’s difficult to imagine how deep a God’s love was for Israel. God chose them to take the message of love to the nations and yet, many of them were only pretending to believe because it was what their family had always believed.

They were obedient to go to Temple to observe burnt offerings and grain offerings because their family had always practiced the giving of offerings. It was a ritual…an empty ritual.

Their hearts were not with God.

When they were at Temple they planned and thought about what they would do on Friday and Saturday night with his “real” friends. He loved to gamble with his friends and he was pretty good at playing cards. That was his favorite thing to do.

His real love was not for God. It was for the games he would play.

While the “sin” was not actually playing cards that was where his heart was…

Matthew. 6:19-21 tells us, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

His heart was not with God.

His treasure was his earthly passion. Playing cards and even betting on winning wasn’t his sin. The sin was his heart was his lie about loving God.

His heart was not with God.

Using this example from scripture, his star-god was winning at cards. When he went to church and even when he confessed he was only saying words he promised his grandmother he would say. He was pretending he believed in God. His real treasure was his card game.

God knew his heart. God knew he was pretending to love Jesus and believe. God knew he was lying.

God wanted the man to return his love, but the man refused to turn to God. God wept for the man to come receive His love.

Deborah @acrazyjourney.com