“Prepare For The Day Of The Lord!”

“Prepare For The Day Of The Lord!” (Am.5:18-20).
In my reading prophet Amos is famous for the dicta,“Do two walk together unless they have agreed to do so?” and, “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!”(3:3&5:24).
Amos’ prophecies were so hurting to the ears because of its hardness such that he was asked by Amaziah the priest of Bethel not to prophesy anymore at Bethel because it was the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom. Amos reminded Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor a prophet’s son, but a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore fig trees. But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now then, hear the word of the Lord…”(7:12-16). There is always need for hard prophecies when falsehood is seen as truth and when blatant injustice pervades the land!
The dominant theme of his prophecies is that social justice is the indispensable expression of true piety.(5:24). Religious piety in the midst of social injustice is a misnomer!
Those who perpetrate injustice lack righteousness and cannot hope for the day of the Lord. The day of the Lord is doom for the unjust and the unrighteous (5:18-20). That notwithstanding, Amos saw a time when the Lord will restore David’s fallen tent.
Like Israel of old, those who are displaced or exiled and all who are homeless today shall be restored. The Lord himself says, “The days are coming…when…I will bring back the exiled people…they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them…I will plant them in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land…”(7:11-15).
But before that day let us forsake evil and injustices so that the day of the Lord does not become for us “pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness”! As Christmas approaches, let us be reminded that Christ is light. Let us live in the light if we want to be partakers in the light that he shines upon the earth.
Prayer: Holy Spirit help me to live a worthy life so as to be in joyful expectation of the day of the Lord. Amen!
Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!
Rev. Babila Fochang.