DON'T FORGET

Amos 3:10 “My people have forgotten what it means to do right…”

When I was a kid I remember having a friend over and playing baseball in the back yard. We repeatedly hit the ball over the fence into the neighbor’s yard and trampled all over their flower beds retrieving it. We were caught mutilating the backyard flora and my mother proceeded to berate me sternly. As it happened, when we were caught it was my friend who had been climbing over the fence and not me, so when my mother was giving me grief about the whole thing, I felt it was a bit unfair. Why wasn’t he getting it, too? He was the one too stupid to wait until my mother was away from the window until he climbed the fence. But here we were, him standing quietly to one side and me taking the rebuke.

Despite my feelings of injustice, it really made sense, though. I was the one who lived in that house. I was the one who knew that I wasn’t supposed to be squashing the daisies and camellias. I was the child and my mother the parent – my friend just happened to be there for the view. I had that privileged position – but with that privileged position also came responsibility.

Our scripture contains a stern admonition from the prophet. The trouble with both Israel and Judah at the time was that both nations were experiencing times of great prosperity and political power. They had summer and winter houses and mansions adorned with ivory. They spent their days lounging around on beds and couches. They felt no threat from the nations surrounding them – they were in control. What was this wealth built on, though? It was built on greed, oppression, and exploitation. They horded the plunder and loot in their fortresses. They trampled the heads of the poor into the dust. And they did not follow the Lord. They did not know how to do right. The true problem is that they once knew what was right. According to the prophet, they had forgotten what it meant to do right.

It is certainly easy to forget, if we turn our back on what we know to be right. How do we forget? We can forget if we allow our conscience to become seared and our thinking to become clouded. God, through his Spirit, continually works to remind us of his will and his path. According to Hosea, “His ways are true and right and we live by walking in them.” The process of forgetting begins with walking outside of his ways and then falling into a complacent attitude of self sufficiency.

We must be on guard against such complacency and self-righteousness. The vast majority of us live in comfort if not prosperity. We should thank God for that, but it is not that sort of blessing we should be looking for. We are incredibly privileged – God has chosen us. But that also means God expects more of us and deserves more of us. In fact, he doesn’t just deserve more of us, he deserves all of us – because, in the end, all the summer houses and winter houses and mansions and ivory adornments will be destroyed and the only ones left standing will be those who are the people of God.