Amos 5:1 says, Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel. God through Amos called on the people of Israel to hear the word that He had against them. I believe that God will always let us know when we are doing something that He does not approve of if we are followers of Christ. Verse two adds, The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up. Israel, when the people were obedient to God, was like a virgin bride to Him, but now because of sin they had fallen away and could not get back up by their own power. When we come to God through faith in Jesus Christ, we are washed clean, but if we allow sin back into our lives, we cannot restore ourselves to Him by our own abilities. We will not lose our salvation, but we will certainly lose our effectiveness as witnesses for Christ and the joy of our salvation. Verse three states, For thus saith the Lord GOD; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel. God said that the number of people in Israel was going to be greatly reduced7. Only ten percent were to remain. This is why God said that His word here would be a lamentation. It is truly sad that those who claim to accept God often only accept Him by word and not real faith. Verse four declares, For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live: God told the people of Israel, His chosen people, to seek Him and they would live. God today calls on all people to seek Him if they would live spiritually. Verse five adds, But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought. God warned them not to go to the places that were associated with worshipping Him because they had been corrupted and would be destroyed. Verse five declares, Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel. Instead of going to a place, God called on the people of Israel to seek Him. When we sincerely seek God, He will be found. Verse seven adds, Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, God called the people of Israel out for their hypocrisy. They had turned His truth into something unrighteous by misusing it. We need to make sure that as Christians we do not misuse God's word for our own benefit. Verse eight continues, Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name: God called on them to seek the only true God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. God is the only God. Veree nine says, That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress. The people of Israel had begun to worship idols in the house of God, and they had lost His protection and instead faced His judgment. We must never allow the things of this world to corrupt our worship of God. If we do, we like the people of Israel were warned will lose His protection. Verse ten states, They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. God said that the people of Israel, His chosen people, hated to hear the truth of His word. People of the world today are often so set against God that they cannot bear to hear His word, but we need to insure that we as Christians are not that way. Verse eleven adds, Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. God warned them that the riches that they had gotten by oppressing and mistreating the poor would not last. If we attempt to use our relationship with God for our own gain with no concern for others, what we gain by doing so will never last. Verse twelve declares, For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right. God said that the sins of the people of Israel were manifold, or numerous. They mistreated the just and the poor. Verse thirteen adds, Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time. Matthew Henry says that even though the prophets can never keep silent that it was prudent for other believers to keep silent. Though I don't believe that we should ever be silent in proclaiming the gospel as we are led to do so by the Holy Spirit, there may be issues in the world that it does us no good to continue to speak out against. It is only the things of God that we are to never be silent about.
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