Justice and the Prophets
God Requires Justice
Live in the light of God (Isaiah 2:5)
Called to Accountability
Amos 5:6-13 New International Version
6 Seek the Lord and live,
or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire;
it will devour them,
and Bethel will have no one to quench it.
7 There are those who turn justice into bitterness
and cast righteousness to the ground.
8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion,
who turns midnight into dawn
and darkens day into night,
who calls for the waters of the sea
and pours them out over the face of the land—
the Lord is his name.
9 With a blinding flash he destroys the stronghold
and brings the fortified city to ruin.
10 There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court
and detest the one who tells the truth.
11 You levy a straw tax on the poor
and impose a tax on their grain.
Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,
you will not live in them;
though you have planted lush vineyards,
you will not drink their wine.
12 For I know how many are your offenses
and how great your sins.
There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes
and deprive the poor of justice in the courts.
13 Therefore the prudent keep quiet in such times,
for the times are evil.
For Reflection
The words of God's prophets must be heard and practiced. Many of today's prophets rail against sin and contribute inaction. Many are complicit in their silence. Ignoring injustice and hope it does not affect you is a lapse in one's sense of reality. If only one of us is treated unjustly, if only one group is singled out as a scapegoat for our decline, we are already the victims of our own decision to ignore injustice in all its forms.
Jesus, the mirror of God's truth and righteousness, reproved the Pharisees because injustice they created served them well. For the love of God, injustice needs our active resistance. Otherwise, ruin is inevitable.
Pray
Pray for the courage to resist injustice. Pray so that you will seek and love that which is good. Pray so that you can plead God's spiritual promises, to create in us a clean heart, and to renew a right spirit within us.
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