God's Remedy: Seek the Lord and Live

IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

God's Remedy: Seek the Lord and Live

Date: Aug. 20, 2014

Passage

Amos 5:1-13 (ESV)

1 Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:

2   “Fallen, no more to rise,
    is the virgin Israel;
  forsaken on her land,
    with none to raise her up.”

3 For thus says the Lord GOD:

  “The city that went out a thousand
    shall have a hundred left,
  and that which went out a hundred
    shall have ten left
    to the house of Israel.”

4 For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel:

  “Seek me and live;
5     but do not seek Bethel,
  and do not enter into Gilgal
    or cross over to Beersheba;
  for Gilgal shall surely go into exile,
    and Bethel shall come to nothing.”
6   Seek the LORD and live,
    lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,
    and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel,
7   O you who turn justice to wormwood
    and cast down righteousness to the earth!
8   He who made the Pleiades and Orion,
    and turns deep darkness into the morning
    and darkens the day into night,
  who calls for the waters of the sea
    and pours them out on the surface of the earth,
  the LORD is his name;
9   who makes destruction flash forth against the strong,
    so that destruction comes upon the fortress.
10   They hate him who reproves in the gate,
    and they abhor him who speaks the truth.
11   Therefore because you trample on the poor
    and you exact taxes of grain from him,
  you have built houses of hewn stone,
    but you shall not dwell in them;
  you have planted pleasant vineyards,
    but you shall not drink their wine.
12   For I know how many are your transgressions
    and how great are your sins—
  you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe,
    and turn aside the needy in the gate.
13   Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time,
    for it is an evil time.

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Daily Bread

Key Verse: 5:6a

  Seek the LORD and live,
    lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,
    and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel,

First, God offers his people a remedy (1-6). Amos sang a lament as though judgment had already taken place. On the Day of Judgment, they could not hide from God. Carnage would be everywhere. Only one tenth of the military would survive, but the destruction of the 90% meant nothing to them; they remained unrepentant. The fact that God laments shows that God cares. God wanted to draw them to himself. He provided a remedy. In love, God implored them to seek him and live. Hope is found in seeking God. In times of difficulty and struggles, we must seek God.

Second, God upholds holy things (7-13). The courts became lined with greed and injustice. The rich milked the poor to build mansions, while good people kept silent. The judges oppressed those who spoke up for justice like Amos. God does not appreciate it when the pure and holy things of God - like seeking justice, caring for the poor, and upholding the righteous - are trampled on. May we uphold the things that God holds dear.

Prayer: Lord, we are always seeking solutions to our problems. We wonder why things are the way they are. We want to accept your remedy, that is, to seek you and live.

One Word: Seek God's remedy

Ahaz, a Fearful King of Judah

2 Kings 16:1-20

Key Verse: 16:2

Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD his God, as his father David had done,

Today's Question

What is the reason for the fifth commandment?

See answer and references