Are you taking joy in conquering nothing?
Do horses run on the rocky crags?
Does one plow the sea with oxen?
But you have turned justice into poison
and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness—
you who rejoice in the conquest of Lo Debar
and say, “Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?” Amos 6:12-13 NIV
NB: Lo Debar means nothing, Karnaim means horn or strength.
Man this is a heavy scripture. A challenging scripture and it should cause us to evaluate ourselves and if need be become life changing.
In chapter 6 of Amos the Lord declares he is going to smash the Israelite houses to smithereens, because they are complacent. Since securing Zion and having a foremost position they have chosen to eat lamb, play music, drink wine and lie on couches instead of pursuing justice and doing what is right.
The Lord is saying that the right response to the life they had been given should have been to pursue justice and do what is right, that they are equipped and placed so they could do these things. They chose not to so were no better than their neighbours.
It brings to mind Jesus’ words in regard to the sheep and goats found in Matthew 25. When those on the left the ones called ‘goats’ say ‘hey, why are we being punished, if we had seen YOU naked, hungry, thirsty, homeless, sick or in prison we would have helped’ and the Shepherd (the Lord) replies, ‘whenever you didn’t do it for the least, lowest, most insignificant, you didn’t do it for me.’
In the Amos writing he likens their behaviour to be so foreign to their position that it is like horses trying to race on rocks and oxen trying to plough the sea. That the natural state of obtaining Zion, the promised land and being secure is to pursue justice and do what is right. That it takes effort to, or it goes against natural inclination to feast and lounge.
He even goes on to be a bit sarcastic and say why are you rejoicing in conquering nothing, and why are you saying you are strong in your own strength. He makes them out to look like idiots.
Here we are in the 21st Century, having accepted Jesus as the Son of God who died for our sins and in so doing obtaining the right to the Kingdom of Heaven, citizens, and what are we doing with it? Our natural spiritual state set alive by the Holy Spirit who indwells is to pursue justice and do what is right.
We get so caught up in pursuing self interest and maintaining status or a standard of living. The scripture in Amos says we are actively choosing against our natural state when we say things like ‘I’ve barely got enough to feed my family, never lone another’ or ‘I’m not helping them, they won’t appreciate it, and they got themselves into the mess’ or ‘I’m too busy right now, once I get this or this or this done then I will’ or ‘I need to go into debt for this new car because I need it for work, so I can make the money to help the poor’ or ‘I need to look after my family first (the bible says so) before I help others’.
Can you add to this list?
Understand me here, I’m plonking myself right in the middle of this as well. And as I dwell on the truth, that I am actively going against my new natural state, I cant help but wonder if the reason I am, at times, so tired, frustrated, bored, feeling sorry for myself, emotional, disconnected is because I’m spending so much time choosing against this natural state.
If I’m reading this scripture right – I don’t even have to spend time wondering what pursuing justice and doing what is right looks like. If I just stop choosing against it, I will naturally act within the position I have gained through Jesus.
So, ARE YOU GAME, do you want to join me in resting (not lounging 😉) in the Lord and see what happens. Let’s see how the world changes as we all stop choosing against our new nature. Netflix should go broke, the charities shouldn’t have to advertise for volunteers, Facebook should have to change their algorithms, dare I say that the aged care facilities will have plenty of beds, revival will change the prison landscape, our country will be at peace within and without.
Actually I am excited….. I hope you are too.