February 11: SPIRITUAL INDIFFERENCE
“Behold, I am weighed down by you, As a cart full of sheaves is weighed down.” Amos 2:13
The prophet Amos communicates thoughts from the LORD amid the prosperous Israelites. Even his name “Amos” means burden-bearer. He definitely lives up to the meaning of his name. The historical setting of his day was one of ease, comfort, and affluence for many. Amos was heavily burdened by what he observed.
Less than 200 years earlier, God’s people had separated into the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Both kingdoms seemed to be at a high point. Well-to-do with material blessings, they had no awareness of the downward direction of their spiritual course. Jeroboam had led Israel to subdue Syria. The territory of Israel toward the north had been expanded all the way to the original boundary of the formerly united kingdom. Under King Uzziah, Judah had overpowered the Edomites, the Philistines, and the Ammonites. Agriculture and other domestic arts of peace were prospering. Judah had a powerful army, and Jerusalem’s walls had been fortified.
The common, predictable sins that sprang from material abundance included extravagance, revelry, and depravity. Corruption fostered oppression of the poor and perverted judgement as it became laced with bribery and extortion. Pride and selfishness were festering in both kingdoms, but the calf worship of the northern kingdom prompted a more severe urgency at the time.
The core of the burden of Amos centered upon a keen awareness of the need for repentance. In chapters 1 and 2, he graphically addressed the sins of “others”: Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, and Moab — then moved directly to those of Judah, for they have despised the law of the LORD, And have not kept His commandments (2:4) and Israel, where they commanded the prophets saying, “Do not prophesy!” (2:12) The kingdom of “overcomers” (for that is what Israel means) clearly didn’t feel that they needed to overcome anything.
The similarity between the condition of God’s people in Amos’s day and our day is striking! The solution begins by recognizing the need for repentance — such recognition is a gift — and then following through with a U-turn. It is an act of our God-given will. John the Baptist and Jesus began their ministries by putting forth the concept of repentance as a commandment: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” (Matthew 3:2; 4:17. See also Mark 1:15) Repentance is a calling (Luke 5:32). Repentance is a condition to salvation (Luke 13:3,5; 24:47; 2 Corinthians 7:10), and it is actually a gift from God that must be received (Romans 2:4; Acts 11:18). When the bright light of the Holy Spirit shines into your life, you are undone (Isaiah 6:5). Such a profound humbling includes genuine sorrow for sin, the exact opposite of spiritual indifference. Many of God’s professed followers need this! Isaiah was ‘six chapters’ into his writings when that light brought him to his knees (see Isaiah 6:1-8). It was to the spiritually indifferent that this word came through Amos:
Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth; Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.” Can two walk together unless they are agreed? Amos 3:1-3