Amos 8:1–12
This is what the Lord God showed me—a basket of summer fruit. He said, “Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the Lord said to me, The end has come upon my people Israel; I will never again pass them by. The songs of the temple shall become wailings in that day,” says the Lord God; “the dead bodies shall be many, cast out in every place. Be silent!”
Hear this, you that trample on the needy, and bring to ruin the poor of the land, saying, “When will the new moon be over so that we may sell grain; and the sabbath, so that we may offer wheat for sale? We will make the ephah small and the shekel great, and practice deceit with false balances, buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling the sweepings of the wheat.” The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: Surely I will never forget any of their deeds. Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who lives in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt? On that day, says the Lord God, I will make the sun go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight. I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on all loins, and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and the end of it like a bitter day.
The time is surely coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it.
Reflection
Do we watch out for this sin of greed? Do we stand with the needy and the poor when they are cheated? When the needy are trampled upon, God will act. God will act and one day put an end to all of these kinds of acts. If we are caught in the act of greed over the poor we can only hope for God to punish us and turn us around from our own greedy sinfulness.
Dare we not be caught up in the famine of God's words. We would be lost if God would not use words to speak to us and give us direction. The hunger of the needy will be nothing compared to our hunger for God's Word when we are lost.
Yes, this passage is a warning told in a story. A story that leads us to understand how strongly God wishes for us to love our neighbors, to love the poor and the needy and the sick. We need to care for one another out of love.
Prayer
Lord, show me your will and your way as I live this life you have graciously given me that I may serve you... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen
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