Woe to Those at Ease
These first seven verses really hit home with me today. Here I am in America, living in a comfortable
life. I’m lying on an airbed with plenty
of blankets and sheets to keep me warm and clean. I have running water. I have indoor plumbing and a water facility that
keeps my water clean. I have more
clothes than I could wear in two weeks. I’m
not fearing death by Malaria, Smallpox, Menangitis, Dengue Fever, or anything
else. {Although truth be told there were a few weeks of reoccurring illness
when I came back from Honduras that made me begin to legitimately fear having
contracted Malaria.}
So here I am in my air-conditioned house having eaten a salad for
lunch made from food of which I had no part in its growing or raising or
baking. I am feeling very American. {How’s
that for a definition of what it means to be an American?}
What do I read here in Amos?
Woe to you who are at ease. Woe
to you who lie on beds of ivory {no, mine
is not made of ivory. But it is made of
air!} I begin to wonder. How different am I than those fat cats in
Israel with whom God got really irritated?
Yes, I know that being rich is not a sin. But being rich in a system that oppresses the
poor of the world just might cause me to orbit too close to the “guilty” side
of the equation for comfort’s sake.
As a point, let me introduce you to a very fascinating world
clock. It can be found at www.poodwaddle.com. {You can just click that, it is a link...} You can do all sorts of neat things. One of the coolest things you can do is hit
the “now” button. It will keep track of
everything that it keeps track of from when you hit that “now” button. For the record, I hit it as I began to write
this post. Since I’ve started writing
this post, 26 people have died from Malaria in the world. 59 people have died from HIV/AIDS related
complications. 123 people have died from
respiratory illnesses. 64 people have
died from diarrheal diseases. Yeah. I’m still here. Fat cat sitting on an air bed typing into a
computer.
“Therefore, they shall now be the first of those who go into
exile.” Verse 7 cuts me pretty deeply –
right where I deserve to be cut. I’m not
saying God is looking at my opulence and condemning me for it. I’m wondering if God is condemning me because
I continue to sit here regardless of the state of my wealth. Why do those who live at ease find it so
difficult to get motivated to do something about those who struggle to grasp
onto life each and every day? Why does
the third world continue to exist when the first world lives in such luxury? Yes, I know I am over-simplifying. Wealth is not the answer to poverty. Education is.
Sometimes places in the world don’t want to hear truth, so they continue
in their current existence. I don’t mean
to too grossly oversimplify.
What does God say? He abhors
the pride of Jacob. He hates his
strongholds. Those are pretty strong
words. I wonder how much my lifestyle
gives me a pride God abhors? How many
strongholds do I have in my life that God hates?
Wormwood
As we look at the back half of this chapter, I can’t help but
listen hard at the analogies that we hear.
Justice into poison. Fruit into
wormwood (poison). What should result in
a life of righteousness is turned into a life of horrible self-centeredness.
I know what you are thinking.
Is it my fault for being born in America? No.
But look around. What is it that
we as Americans have begun to fight over?
Celebrities and their rights.
Athletes and their pay. Paparazzi
and their invasiveness. Government
officials and their fat lifestyle. How
much in bed together our government and health insurance agencies happen to be. The gasoline efficiency of my car. Whether I slap a donkey or an elephant onto
my Facebook page every 4 years.
I have to ask myself, what is any of that next to malaria? What have I faced that can even touch the
locust devastation brought on recently in Madagascar? I should turn this wonderful near-utopia into
which I was born into a blessing upon the world. {I’m
not saying we don’t have our problems, but when compared with the crises of the
rest of the world, we do have a pretty tame life in America.} But what do I do? Complain that I can’t find a ripe avocado in
a grocery store to save my life!
Really? Is that to what my life
has come? If that is the worst thing in
my life with which I must deal, I think God has every right to look down upon
me and wonder.
Just for the record, this blog post took a little less time to
write than I thought. Normally my blog
posts here take 45-60 minutes. Today’s post
only took me a bit over 30 minutes. But
I want to return to the world clock. Here’s
what has happened in the now 35 minutes of typing:
Deaths: 2,895 by abortion. 261
by respiratory infections. 217 from
perinatal conditions. 134 by diarrheal
diseases. 127 by AIDS/HIV
complications. 92 from
tuberculosis. 56 from Malaria. 54 from Childhood Cluster diseases {pertussis, poliomyelitis, diphtheria, measles, and tetanus}. 22 from Meningitis. 17 from Protein Malnutrition. 10 from tropical diseases. 10 from Iron Deficiency Anemia. 8 from STDs.
7 from Hepatitis B. 4 from Hepatitis
C. 1 from Dengue Fever.
Other stats: $2,293,576 made in drug trade revenue. {In 35
minutes, are you kidding me?} 1,471
thefts. 495 burglaries. 308 assaults.
86 divorces. 34 acts of non-assault/non-rape
sexual violence. 32 homicides. 21
rapes. 11 sexual offenses against
minors.
How long will I be content living under “my own strength?” How long will I live in comfort because of what
“I have made for myself?” When will I
start to be appreciative of what God has given to me in such a lavish blessing
and begin to focus on pouring out of God’s generosity into the lives of others? How much of this world can I change while
lying in comfort upon my bed of “ivory?”
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