Amos 6 Devotional

Comfort That Feels No Grief

“You drink wine by the bowlful and anoint yourselves with the finest oils, but you fail to grieve over the ruin of Joseph.”Amos 6:6 (BSB)

Amos pronounces woe on those who feel at ease in Zion and secure on the hill of Samaria (6:1). He describes them in detail: lying on ivory beds, dining on choice lambs and calves, improvising songs on the harp, drinking wine by the bowlful, and anointing themselves with the finest oils (6:4-6). The charge is not that good things are evil. It is that they feel nothing over the ruin of their own people (6:6). They push the day of disaster out of mind (6:3).

The LORD swears by himself that he abhors Jacob's pride (6:8). Israel boasts that it took cities by its own strength (6:13), while turning justice into poison. Asking whether horses run on rocks or oxen plow the sea (6:12), Amos shows how absurd their way of life has become. The God who sees their comfort also sees the ruin they ignore. When Jesus drew near Jerusalem, he wept over it (Luke 19:41). Comfort received from God is meant to leave room for grief over what grieves him.

To think about: What brokenness around you have you grown comfortable enough to stop grieving over?