Friday, 30^th May 2025

Alex Buabeng-Korsah

TOPIC: RETURN AND LIVE

THEME SCRIPTURE: “Seek the Lord and live… Hate evil, love good; maintain justice in the courts.” (Amos 5:6, 14-15, NIV).

 

PREPARATORY QUESTIONS:

1. Why must we return, and from where must we return?

Amos’s message is stark: Israel’s corruption, idolatry, and injustice have ignited God’s judgment. Yet, woven into the warning is a lifeline—“Come back to the Lord and live” (Amos 5:6). Even as God declares, “I will roar through Israel like a fire” (Amos 5:6), His roar is not just destruction—it’s a wake-up call. The same God who devours sin longs to refine hearts.  St. Augustine wrote, “You have made us for Yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.” 

Spiritual restlessness—like Israel’s—comes when we trade God’s presence for empty idols. But His mercy thunders louder than our rebellion. 

God points Israel to the stars: “He who made the Pleiades and Orion… turns midnight into dawn and darkens day into night” (Amos 5:8). The constellations declare His sovereignty; the shifting skies preach His power. When we forget God, we shrink Him to our limits. But creation shouts: He is Lord of all.  John Calvin reflected, “The universe is a mirror in which we behold God.” Step outside tonight. Gaze at the stars. Let them remind you:

The God who commands galaxies also holds your life. Him you must honor.

Amos 5:24 rings with urgency: “Let justice roll on like a river!” God’s heart beats for the oppressed, the overlooked, the weary. Israel’s sin wasn’t just ritual failure—it was neglecting love. Likewise, our complacency in injustice or compromise dulls our spiritual sight.  

Yet Scripture recalibrates us. Tertullian said, “The Scriptures are letters from home.” They pull us back to truth: God’s power shatters pride, lifts the weak, and rains grace on parched souls (Amos 5:9-13).  

Beloved, what must we do so that we may live in His presence?

First, let us Repent Relentlessly: Confess where you’ve traded God’s truth for cultural idols.  Examine yours and receive His pardon.

Secondly, let us Seek Justice Daily: Let's not pull out our phones and start filming injustice because of social media, but rather confront it wherever we see it. Let's help the helpless and the needy.

Lastly, let us Anchor in Scripture: It is easy to live unconcerned. Scriptures can serve as a valuable reminder if we truly desire God's help in advancing the cause of righteousness.

The same God who “forms the mountains and creates the wind” (Amos 4:13) wants to reshape you. Return. Live.

FURTHER READING: Amos 5

Call to Salvation: Today is your day if you have not received salvation by turning over your life to Jesus Christ. Click here to do so.

QUESTION TO HELP YOU MEDITATE ON THE WORD

1. Whom are you pleasing in your day-to-day living?

PRAYER

Father, when I forget Your power, drown my doubts in the thunder of Your love. Turn my complacency into courage, my silence into justice. I return to You, my Hope, my Life, in Jesus' precious name. Hallelujah!

One-Year Bible Reading Plan

1 Corinthians 14; 2 Samuel 18-19; Psalm 145