Series: Shepherds Roar
Message: Our Own Issues
Preacher: Dany Hernandez
Reflection: Nathan Brown
Live Wonder: Zan Long
Live Adventure: Zan Long
Live Beyond: Art Preuss
Live Purpose: Kyle Smith
Editor: Becky De Oliveira
Refresh: Begin with prayer. Ask for the Holy Spirit to open your heart to new understanding and for God’s character to be revealed.
Read: Amos 5-6 in the International Children’s Bible (ICB). Note 1–3 insights or questions.
Reflect: “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24, ESV). This is a high point in the rhetoric of Amos’ prophetic message that has been riffed upon by prophetic voices for justice many times in the centuries since. But this is more than a slogan and catchphrase. There is important theology in this prophetic imagery.
The parallelism of this Hebrew poetic form intertwined the twin concepts of justice and righteousness, as is often the case in the Bible’s original languages but is sometimes missed in many of our English translations. In the biblical world, personal piety—private righteousness—did not make sense unless it was matched by social justice—public righteousness. Not merely a trickle, this is something that soaks all our lives, then spills over and flows out into the world around us.
But as poetic language, it is more evocative than definitive: “One is uncertain of the exact meaning of this bold image. It seems to combine several ideas: a surging movement, a life-bringing substance, a dominant power. A mighty stream, expressive of the vehemence of a never-ending, surging, fighting movement—as if obstacles had to be washed away for justice to be done. . . . In the eyes of the prophets, justice is more than an idea or a norm: justice is charged with the omnipotence of God. What ought to be, shall be! Righteousness is a vast and mighty stream because God is its unfailing source” (Abraham Joshua Heschel, The Prophets, pp. 271–2).
Whenever the Bible sounds a call to justice—which it does about 2,100 times—it is not merely a call to our best human impulses and efforts, but an invitation to join with God’s intentions for our world and its people, and the work that He is doing and will do to restore and renew His creation. This is why the call to justice is often so closely linked to the call to true worship, as it is in Amos’ messages. It is about stepping into the flow of God, and allowing His compassion and justice to work in us and through us.
Recalibrate: How does an understanding of God as the source of justice influence how we live and act in the world?
Respond: Pray these words: “God, may justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
Research: Read Psalm 146, particularly focussing on Verses 5–10. This psalm links praise for God with His actions for justice. How do we make sense of reading this psalm while seeing the injustice in the world around us?
Remember: “This is what the Lord says to the nation of Israel: ‘Come to me and live’” (Amos 5:4, ICB).
Nathan Brown is a writer and book editor at Signs Publishing Company, near Melbourne, Australia. Nathan is author/editor of 16 books, including two this year—Of Falafels and Following Jesus and For the Least of These.
Create a messy play activity for your child where they will get dirty. This might be painting or making mud pies or gardening—you choose. With your little one, clean up the mess from your play. Wash up, wipe down, and sweep away until the place where you played is clean. Make a habit of leaving people and places better for you having been there.
As you listen to God you start to understand the difference between right and wrong. You can see when you have hurt someone or done something that you are not so proud of. Doing something wrong is like having a cut on your knee, when you do something wrong it hurts you on the inside and you sometimes get a funny feeling in your tummy. You can help that yucky feeling in your tummy go away by saying sorry and trying to make things right again. Saying sorry is like a Band-Aid for that yucky feeling in your tummy.
God does not like hypocrites! I’m guessing that you don’t either. As a matter of fact, God would rather you not pretend that you are righteous, just, and nice on the outside, but when in reality you are an ugly person on the inside. He says He will not even listen to our songs if this is the kind of people we are. In the New Testament, God says that He prefers us to be either really excited about Him or not excited at all. He goes on to say that He will spit us out if we are playing hooky with church (Revelation 3:16).
Let’s get real: What are some things in your life that you have to change in order to make sure that what you feel and know about God is also evident in the outside?
Have you ever thrown an item into a rushing river? Throwing something into a fast moving river is so gratifying! When you throw something into a river, the river completely overtakes it. It saturates it, covers it, and takes it for a long fast ride! When I read Amos’ words, “Let justice roll like streams of water,” I picture a huge, fast-moving body of water. God wants justice, or fairness, to not just be a part of our lives—He wants justice to saturate everything about us and the way we live. Just like a fast moving river, when justice saturates our lives, it moves us to new places where we have never been. How can you be more just in the way you treat others?
Zan Long is GRC director for faith development for ages 0-17. She lives in Sydney, Australia, and serves at her local church in nearby Kellyville.
Art Preuss pastors in Massachusetts at the Springfield, Florence, and Warren Adventist churches and serves in the U. S. Air Force Reserve as a chaplain.
Kyle Smith is the associate pastor of youth and family ministries at New Haven Adventist Church in Overland Park, Kansas.