Thursday of Week 13 Year 2

In today's reading, the prophet Amos kept warning the Israelites of the impending doom which would happen to them if they did not change their ways and return to the Lord's path. But Amaziah the priest of Bethel, influenced the king of Israel into thinking that the prophet Amos was a fraud, a fake and a troublemaker. Not only that, Amaziah dared to challenge and chase away the prophet Amos, by saying: "Go away, seer; get back to the land of Judah; earn your bread there, do your prophesying there. We want no more prophesying in Bethel; this is the royal sanctuary, the national temple." By saying so, Amaziah was convinced that God would not allow anything to happen to the nation and to the temple, since he believed that God was with the nation and resided in the temple. But what Amaziah failed to realise is that it was God who had sent the prophet Amos to warn the Israelites, and that God was not confined only to the temple.

What can be learn from this? When we are proud and egoistic, we fail to listen and take heed of God's voice and warning. We begin to think that we are ok and nothing will happen to us. But we may realise when it is too late, that we had been only fooling ourselves into complacency and a false sense of security. May we learn to walk humbly in God's ways, take heed of His promptings, and let Him be our guide.