"Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth,
Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The Lord is his name:"
Amos 5:7-8
We don't like thinking of ourselves as the objects of scriptures like this. We prefer thinking that God is talking to other people, and that we are the righteous ones. We get someone else in our minds and think... "oh yeah, [that person] should totally read this" or "boy, this sounds just like [whoever]!" But the Lord says "ye," and I think to get the most out of this scripture, and perhaps all scriptures, we should think about how they apply to us.
Do we turn judgment to wormwood? Do we leave off righteousness? Probably yes, right? Not always, and maybe we're working on it, but this message is still for us. The message is: Seek the Lord.
In an earlier verse God tells us to seek him and we'll live. That probably also makes the alternative clear... but I think it's something we already knew. Sin is killing us, little by little.
God illustrates his power here not only to tell us to shape up, which is important, but also to offer hope. He didn't just make the stars. He can turn the shadow of death into the morning. :) Surely he can save us from our sins as well. Today, let's seek him, and ask for his help in changing our ways.
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