Series: Dog Daze
Amos 5:7 ESV
Amos 5:7-9 MSG
Amos 5:6 MSG
As Amos continues with his rebuke he turns to justice and he doesn’t pull any punches with Israel!
In Amos 5:7 the prophet wrote, “O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth!”
Now wormwood isn’t a term we hear everyday in the modern world. So, what exactly is wormwood?
It turns out wormwood was a plant in the region where Amos lived that had a really bitter taste. It served as a metaphor for destruction.
It was Justice vs. Wormwood.
That begs the question, who is turning justice into wormwood? In other words, who are the players?
The justice part is easy…on Team 1 we have God.
To identify the evil in Team 2 (who by the way are not fans of truth) they are the folks who turn justice into wormwood. In Amos 5:7-9 the prophet tells us (MSG):
“Woe to you who turn justice to vinegar and stomp righteousness into the mud. Do you realize where you are? You’re in a cosmos star-flung with constellations by God,A world God wakes up each morning and puts to bed each night.God dips water from the ocean and gives the land a drink. God, God-revealed, does all this.And he can destroy it as easily as make it. He can turn this vast wonder into total waste.”
Team 2 is basically anyone and everyone who is against righteousness.
Now we’re getting somewhere.
Righteousness is when the good fruit God provided was corrupted and became a really stinky bitter weed (wormwood).
The prophet then reminds them exactly where they are standing. Oh, by the way you on Team 2 who just corrupted righteousness are standing on very shaky ground because it was God (Team 1) who created the ‘cosmos’ i.e.the whole entire universe where you are standing!
Amos gives us a great recap of exactly what the cosmos that God (Team 1) created which BTW includes all of the stars and constellations that humans wake up to every morning and go to sleep with every night.
It’s God (Team 1) who dips His mighty hand in the ocean that He created and gives a drink to the land.
God created.
All.
And oh by the way God IS God.
Here we begin to get some idea of the many ways the power of God is way beyond comprehension to the human mind.
I used to tell my kids, “God created everything and I’m pretty sure God can do whatever…”
We like to think we are our own master, but it’s a facade. We are actually not master of much of anything except deciding whether we want peanut butter and jelly or bologna for lunch.
Now we back up to the point the Prophet Amos was making.
In Amos 5:6 from the Message:
“So seek God and live! You don’t want to end up with nothing to show for your life but a pile of ashes, a house burned to the ground.For God will send just such a fire, and the firefighters will show up too late.”
That was the real point the prophet was making. He was telling Israel to turn to God.
More to the point he was saying, if you seek God and turn to God you will have life.
If you do not seek God you will end up being nothing but a pile of ashes…literally.
Your life won’t amount to anything. You will be like a house that just burned and all that’s left is the ashes which will blow awe in the wind.
And God…who is eternal God of everything is also in charge of the fire.
So Amos was saying…Israel a time is coming and when it comes there will be no firemen who can put the fire out.
In other words, God IS your hope.
The time to choose Israel is now before it’s too late. Once the fire starts it will burn. The bottom line is that Amos was telling them they have a choice…turn or burn.
Spiritual Practice: Turn
Turn to God and rest knowing everything is in God’s capable hands.
In God, Deborah
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