Have you ever had someone (maybe a big brother!) steal a piece of pizza from your plate? Or, worse than that, has anyone ever pushed you to the ground on the playground and called you names? People around the world experience lots of injustice. “Injustice” is when people are treated in a way that isn’t right and wouldn’t please God. Like when someone is robbed or when a rich person can get out of trouble just because he is rich.

Amos called God’s people to “seek the Lord and live” (Amos 5:6). They needed to seek God because they had stopped listening to the prophets who spoke God’s words to them. They also needed to seek God because they had forgotten that he was a just God who required them to seek justice. Amos sighs, “You turn justice to wormwood!” (see 5:7). Wormwood is a plant that has an awful taste. It’s like Amos is saying that they are turning sweet justice into a sour, moldy, and stinky sandwich. Yuck!

Now, get this! God’s people were gathering together for religious feasts—they sang praise songs and offered sacrifices—but then they would leave worship and act in unjust ways. The rich and powerful treated the poor and powerless unfairly. They stole land from them. They used their power to push people down instead of picking them up. How foolish! You cannot worship and love God and not love your neighbor! God hated what they were doing. “I hate your feasts,” he said, “and I take no delight when you gather for worship. Your songs are noise in my ears and your sacrifices are yuck in my mouth” (see 5:21, 23).

God’s people had made the land dry and dark through their injustice. Amos called them to repent. Turn around! Turn back to God. “Hate evil, and love good, and start acting justly” (see 5:15). Then he gives this beautiful image of the rushing waters of a waterfall flowing into a never-ending river of goodness: “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (5:24). Instead of drying up the people and the land by taking away what is good, God wanted Israel to be like those waters—pouring justice and love over everyone.