Ignoring God

Amos 4 and 5

                These two chapters really amaze me, especially chapter 4. The Israelites would sacrifice to God, but they would not listen. He wanted their Heart not their sacrifices. God would try to warn them through prophets but they still would ignore what God had to say. The people would continue sacrificing their children and prostituting themselves;  they were living in wickedness. Then God did something that usually worked; he began to punish them like a father would to his child. He wanted to show them a lesson. However after this they still did not acknowledge him. They continued to ignore God.

                So God let them be, their sin destroyed them. The ironic thing is, chapter 5 states that all they had to do was turn to him. All the death and destructions that becomes inevitable was not really all that inevitable. All the Israelites needed was to begin being just and following God with their heart. He did not want the hypocrisy of the people. They would do the “right” religious festivals and worship but their hearts would not obey him. It was all empty.

                Allow me to pose a question to you. Do you utterly ignore God? Do you go to Church and leave Jesus at the door? Do you sing songs of praise, but when it comes to your daily life you do nothing? All God asks of you is to love him but also help the needy. He wants you to reach you lost friends, he wants you to help the poor, and he wants you to follow Jesus’s footsteps. I just want to encourage you to start listening because if you don’t your consequence might be like Israel: being destroyed by their sin.

“I the LORD, hate and despise your religious celebrations and your times of worship. I won’t accept your offerings or animal sacrifices- not even your very best. No more of your noisy songs! I won’t listen when you play your harps. But let justice and fairness flow like a river that never runs dry.” (Amos 5:21-24)