DAY 16
From the devotional book Beyond Words by Frederick Buechner
“WHEN THE PROPHET AMOS walked down the main drag, it was like a shoot-out in the Old West. Everybody ran for cover. His special target was the “beautiful people,” and shooting from the hip, he never missed his mark. He pictures them sleek and tanned at Palm Beach, Acapulco, St. Tropez. They glisten with Bain de Soleil. The stereo is piped out over the marble terrace. Another tray of Bloody Marys is on the way. A vacationing bishop plunges into the heated pool.
With one eye cocked on them, he has his other cocked on the unbeautiful people–the varicose veins of the old waiter, the pasty face of the starch-fed child, the Indian winos passed out on the railroad siding, the ragged woman fumbling for food stamps at the check-out counter.
When justice is finally done, Amos says, there will be hell to pay. The happy hour will be postponed indefinitely, because the sun will never make it over the yardarm. The cashmere sweaters, the tangerine-colored slacks, the flowered Lillys will all fade like grass. Nothing but a few chicken bones will mark the place where once the cold buffet was spread out under the royal palms.
But according to Amos, it won’t be the shortage of food and fun that will hurt. It will be the shortage “of hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11). Toward the end, God will make himself so scarce that the world won’t even know what it’s starving to death for.”
Amos 6-8
my reflection More Old Testament carnage. The Lord is displeased (to say the least) with the Israelites because they have turned away from Him. As a result, He is going to withdraw His protection over them. This is extremely radical, and the God I studied and learned to venerate from the New Testament would have never gone this far, or so I believe. All that said, I’m not sure I completely blame the Lord for His actions. As Buechner illustrates, the Israelites have lost their way. They appear to have turned their worship to material things, and that hardly ever ends well–or maybe never ends well. I can’t help but see some parallels in our current day. Lots of people are accumulating and hoarding wealth, and many others are coveting it. The culture holds up the uber rich as exemplars worthy of emulating. It feels like we are so far down the wrong road that it isn’t hard to imagine a day of reckoning similar to what the Israelites had to endure. I hope and pray I’m wrong, but if it does hapen society will only have itself to blame.
- Our Weekend Getaway - January 22, 2024
- So Long, Mom, And Thanks For All The Spaghetti - November 10, 2023
- Thoughts On The Chogaffirm Petition - June 3, 2023
- Rhonda - June 3, 2023
- Beyond Words Day 23 - April 4, 2023
- Beyond Words Day 21 - April 1, 2023
- State Of The Household - January 9, 2023
- Book Review and Miscellany Thoughts - November 18, 2022
- Initial Thoughts On My Writing - September 13, 2022
- Beyond Words Day 19 - September 11, 2022
