Amos Rails against Injustice
God Is Not Fooled
1 Samuel 15:17-23 The Message (MSG)
17-19 And Samuel told him. “When you started out in this, you were nothing—and you knew it. Then God put you at the head of Israel—made you king over Israel. Then God sent you off to do a job for him, ordering you, ‘Go and put those sinners, the Amalekites, under a holy ban. Go to war against them until you have totally wiped them out.’ So why did you not obey God? Why did you grab all this loot? Why, with God’s eyes on you all the time, did you brazenly carry out this evil?”20-21 Saul defended himself. “What are you talking about? I did obey God. I did the job God set for me. I brought in King Agag and destroyed the Amalekites under the terms of the holy ban. So the soldiers saved back a few choice sheep and cattle from the holy ban for sacrifice to God at Gilgal—what’s wrong with that?”
22-23 Then Samuel said,
Do you think all God wants are sacrifices—
empty rituals just for show?
He wants you to listen to him!
Plain listening is the thing,
not staging a lavish religious production.
Not doing what God tells you
is far worse than fooling around in the occult.
Getting self-important around God
is far worse than making deals with your dead ancestors.
Because you said No to God’s command,
he says No to your kingship.
empty rituals just for show?
He wants you to listen to him!
Plain listening is the thing,
not staging a lavish religious production.
Not doing what God tells you
is far worse than fooling around in the occult.
Getting self-important around God
is far worse than making deals with your dead ancestors.
Because you said No to God’s command,
he says No to your kingship.
When
I was much younger, I thought that spiritual ritual was a waste of
time. That ritual was empty and unproductive in worship. I suppose, at
that stage of my life, ritual was empty because I could not bring
substance to it.
Ritual, as practiced then by our spiritual leaders and parishioners was not empty. Ritual was symbolic of the spiritual life each was striving to achieve. The practice of robing in ancient costumes, swinging incense before the procession of the cross, (as was practiced in my early years in the Lutheran Church) was not an empty show. Neither were the rituals of communion as practiced in my teen years in the Presbyterian Church. It was I who was empty of substance. It was I who was too immature in my faith to understanding the meaning of these repeated acts.
There are some for whom religion is just a spiritual show, lavish productions done for selfish reasons. And yet, God works miracles even through the selfish abusers of God's name. The Spirit will enter and make the inauthentic authentic in those who listen.
Pray
Ritual, as practiced then by our spiritual leaders and parishioners was not empty. Ritual was symbolic of the spiritual life each was striving to achieve. The practice of robing in ancient costumes, swinging incense before the procession of the cross, (as was practiced in my early years in the Lutheran Church) was not an empty show. Neither were the rituals of communion as practiced in my teen years in the Presbyterian Church. It was I who was empty of substance. It was I who was too immature in my faith to understanding the meaning of these repeated acts.
There are some for whom religion is just a spiritual show, lavish productions done for selfish reasons. And yet, God works miracles even through the selfish abusers of God's name. The Spirit will enter and make the inauthentic authentic in those who listen.
Pray
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