#DailyDevotion Your Outward Worship Does Not Deceive The LORD

Amos 5¹⁸Woe to you who long for the LORD’s day! What good can the LORD’s day bring you? It is darkness and not light. ¹⁹It is like a man running away from a lion, and a bear attacks him. Then he comes into the house and leans with his hand on the wall, and a snake bites him. ²⁰Isn’t the LORD’s day dark, not light, gloomy, with nothing bright in it? ²¹“I hate and despise your festivals and take no delight in your meetings. ²²Even if you bring Me burnt offerings and food offerings, I will not accept them; or your fat animals as peace offerings, I won’t look at them. ²³Take away from Me the noise of your songs. I will not listen to the music of your lyres. ²⁴Let what is right roll on like the waters, and justice like an ever-flowing stream.

Much like the people Micah prophesied to, those who Amos prophesied to weren’t any better. They were supposedly longing for the Day of the LORD. Apparently they thought they were immune to the LORD’s judgment. Like those people they were trusting in promises that God had given their fathers but they ignored the curses of the Law that were proclaimed to them. In Deut. 28 the Lord said, ⁵⁸ “If you are not careful to do everything in this law, everything written in this book, and to fear this wonderful and awesome name THE LORD YOUR GOD, ⁵⁹the LORD will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, great and continual plagues and severe diseases lasting a long time. ⁶⁰He will bring back on you every disease of the Egyptians that you dread, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹ The Lord will bring on you also every kind of sickness and plague not written in this book of the law until you’re wiped out.”

And so we see in this chapter of Amos the LORD’s accusation, ⁷“You are twisting justice to make it a bitter experience and throwing fairness on the ground.” ¹¹“You trample on the poor and take part of his wheat away from him; so when you build houses of hand-cut stones, you won’t live in them; and when you plant pleasant vineyards, you won’t drink the wine from them. ¹²I know your wrongs are many and your sins are big —oppressing the righteous, taking bribes, and taking away the rights of the poor at the gate.” ²⁶“So you carry Siccuth as your king and Kiyyun, your idols, the star of your gods which you made for yourselves.” Committing these sins and not turning from them, not having mercy and seeking justice and fairness and worshipping other gods were some of the charges the LORD had against his people.

Their hypocrisy was too much for the LORD. While they carried out many of the duties of worshipping the LORD their heart was far from them. They thought if they just carried out the outward works of worship that would enough to please God. But they put aside the other aspects of the LORD’s will in their lives to be covetous and to fill their lustful desires. The LORD despised their worship. The Day of the LORD would be judgment for them.

So what about you? Are you looking forward to the Day of the LORD? Do you think the mere exercise of religion or spirituality is pleasing to God and you have no mercy and love towards your struggling neighbor? Are you daily confessing and repenting of your sins trusting in the mercies of Christ Jesus or are you sinning with impunity because Christ will forgive you? Are you in fact trusting in wealth, health and power in your daily life and will curse God if he takes them from you? With Jesus and his love toward us we should be content.



Merciful God and Father, give us a spirit of humility and a contrite heart that we do not despise or take for granted you mercy and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Give us your Holy Spirit that we may rightly repent of our sins and live our neighbor. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.