If Disaster Falls on a City, Has Not God Been At Work?

Text: Amos 3:1-11

Reflection and Question: In a time of prosperity founded upon corruption and injustice, Amos prophesied to Israel their downfall and defeat. Amos predicted this fate with a confidence in the inevitable that he expressed in a series of rhetorical questions, whose answers were assumed to be self-evident. God’s judgment drips from Amos’ last question, “What do they care for honesty who hoard in their palaces the gains of crime and violence?” And Amos’ indictment applies to us now just as seriously as it did to God’s people so long ago. Where is the oppression in our midst that God is judging?

Prayer: Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Comforter, spare us the fate of Israel at the hands of the Assyrians. Have mercy on us, have mercy. You have given us knowledge of Your justice through Amos and other prophets. Inspire us now to live it. Amen.

This meditation is based on the Daily Lectionary Year 2 from the Book of Common Worship for the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (1993).