Amos 5:14-15
Seek good, and not evil,
that you may live;
and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you,
as you have said.
Hate evil, and love good,
and establish justice in the gate;
it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,
will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
Tag: God desires and honors Godliness
In this prophecy of Amos, the prophet is speaking to the northern kingdom of Israel. They had fallen into false worship and into oppression of the poor and needy. They were trusting in their wealth and the things they had built or accumulated. God, however, has seen all of their evil. God has seen their oppression of the poor and the needy. God had seen their evil desires and their evil pursuits. In the above message, Amos tells them what God requires and what God honors. The prophet Micah stated something similar to the above message in his book:
Micah 6:8
He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
God wants us to first and foremost to treat others with respect and with love and act toward them in a just manner. God does not want us to oppress and hurt one another. The "good and evil" in the above passage are pathways in life. If we pursue what is "good" (God's character lived out in our lives) we will have blessing. If we purse "evil" (the opposite of God's character lived out in our lives) we will have the ills God is speaking via the prophet, Amos (and all the prophets). We can't live in holiness, however. This is why God must provide a Savior and the Savior will establish justice in our lives. God want us to pursue justice and mercy with others through His Son, the Messiah of Israel. Only through Christ can we do "good" and not "evil" and pursue God.
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