#DailyDevotion What To Do When The Times Are Evil
Amos 5 13That is why the wise man at that time will be silent because the time will be evil. 14Strive for what is good and not evil, in order to live, and so the LORD, the God of armies, will be with you as you say. 15Hate evil and love good, and establish justice at the gate. It may be the LORD, the God of armies, will be kind to those who are left in Joseph.
It may be hard to hear this. We so want to correct evil in our midst. Yet in the day of Amos, it was better to remain silent because the days were evil. We might note, Amos was not silent, but he was a prophet. It was probably still not good for him to open his mouth. He would receive condemnation and persecution because of it. We live a similarly evil time where evil is called good and good is called evil. We also live in a time where people do not and will not receive correction but will tell you to judge not so they can continue in their sin undisturbed. That said, the wise here can mean the wise person of the world. It is hard for a Christian not to speak out. Do not be surprised when you do that you will be persecuted for it in some way.
The LORD’s message to us is the same as those who would listen in Amos’ day, “Strive for what is good and not evil, in order to live, and so the LORD, the God of armies, will be with you as you say.” That last phrase appears to be a little tongue in cheek. The Israelites were claiming the LORD was with them but they didn’t want to live the way the LORD wanted them to live. If He was among them, He wasn’t being for them because of their sin. If we want to claim the LORD is among us, for our good, we should heed His message to the Israelites. We should strive to live good lives. There are the Ten Commandments to live by and if that is not enough, there is the Sermon on the Mount and Paul’s admonitions in all his letters to keep us plenty busy living a good life according to the Word of God.
Hating evil and loving good is the beginning of wisdom and fearing the LORD. To hate evil is to not give approval to it. Loving good is doing good and rewarding it. Certainly we also in this evil age do likewise. Sure, evil people around you will probably call you a jerk or think evil of you if you live this way. However, if you look at how you do this, would you also think you are being a jerk about it? The wicked hate the good well enough without our giving them excuses for it. We are called to admonish people gently. If they don’t receive gentle admonitions, they will still think you are being jerk about it but you will have your own conscience spared. To some extent we can assist in establishing justice at the gate. Unfair laws and unfair applications of the law were rampant in Amos’ day. Inasmuch as we see unfair laws, we can seek to change them through our political system. If we think a judge is applying the law unfairly, we can seek to elect another in his place or pressure those we vote for to remove them.
If the Israelites did this, the LORD says He may be kind to those left in Joseph aka Israel. Those are those who are left after the Assyrians do their worst to them. Would that the LORD Jesus Christ walk among us and be kind to us. We are His people. As He has been kind to us, let us also be kind to those around us. He has been merciful to us. Let us be merciful to those around us. Let us learn from the Israelites and not be like them in our lives.
Heavenly Father, give us Your grace that we would hate evil and love good. Give us the power to strive to do good and to avoid all that is wicked in Your sight. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.