Prayers from Amos

Amos 5:14-17

Seek good, not evil,
    that you may live.
Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you,
    just as you say he is.
¹⁵ Hate evil, love good;
    maintain justice in the courts.
Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy
    on the remnant of Joseph.

¹⁶ Therefore this is what the Lord, the Lord God Almighty, says:

“There will be wailing in all the streets
    and cries of anguish in every public square.
The farmers will be summoned to weep
    and the mourners to wail.
¹⁷ There will be wailing in all the vineyards,
    for I will pass through your midst,”
says the Lord.

Amos 14-16 is an interjection between the calling out of Israel’s sin and what they will experience in v17. When God comes to unrepentant lives there will be weeping and wailing. V14-16 offers hope, offers wisdom. Change our ways, seek good, love good, and maintain justice. We say with our words God is with us; would our actions indicate that also? God weaves mercy and goodness together throughout His word. It’s not saying we need to be good like people tell children to be good, to earn God’s love, but that we are to seek it and love it, suggesting that the ‘good’ being referred to isn’t about behaviour but something richer, deeper and bigger, from/of God. We are called to ensure justice is carried out in the courts. Again, justice is something greater than our behaviour, it is outside of us. We don’t create it but maintain it as with Genesis and the call to care for creation which God brought into being. Goodness, mercy, justice don’t start with us, they start with God but we are to pursue them and uphold them and live by them.

Father give us the courage to seek the good, to slow down and lay down our goals and ambitions. Give us the courage to see the works You have prepared for us to do, let us partner You rather than consistently asking You to bless our plans and works. In Jesus name we pray.