Nothing Hidden


Amos 8:4-10
4 Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end,
5 saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances,
6 that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat?”
7 The Lord has sworn by the pride of Jacob: “Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.
8 Shall not the land tremble on this account, and everyone mourn who dwells in it, and all of it rise like the Nile, and be tossed about and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?”
9 “And on that day,” declares the Lord God, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 I will turn your feasts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation; I will bring sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head; I will make it like the mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.

Part of our problem with having an omnipotent God is that there is no way to hide anything from Him. It would be so much easier if we could keep our little secrets and allow Him to know only certain things. But then He wouldn’t be God, He would just be one of us. Imagine the horror of the people as God lists in detail the sins that the wealthy business men have committed – sins that are internal and private; thoughts and motives are called into question. And Amos blurts them out for the entire world to hear!

Since the market place was forced to close down during worship celebrations, the merchants were wishing those times of worship would be shorter! They wanted the Sabbath to be over and done with so that they could get on with the business of making money and selling goods. They were guilty of selling dirt and chaff along with the grain in order to cheat the people and make more money. The weights and the scales were also tampered with in order to bring more gold to the seller and less product to the buyer. All of these practices point to a heart that does not fear God, nor does it respect the others who live in the same community. This is all reprehensible before God and calls down His judgment yet again. Whenever we think we are hiding something from God, we are deluded. If our neighbor doesn’t find out that we have cheated them, does that mean the sin didn’t happen? That’s like the 2 year old who covers his eyes and believes that he’s disappeared. Just because your sin isn’t discovered doesn’t mean God doesn’t know about it and deal with it.

This is all extremely obvious, right? You didn’t have to boot up your computer today just to learn that. But – we all tend to have those areas of our lives that we think are hidden from everyone and if God finds out – oh well. He’s not here to make me feel badly about it. But today’s reading would belie that belief. God does see and He does take note. “Surely I will never forget any of their deeds.” (vs. 7) A little reminder that God knows is never a bad thing. And not only does He know, He will deal with us accordingly. Our only recourse is to remember that Jesus has covered ALL of our sin, both open and hidden. He died for all of it. So rather than pretend God is looking the other way when engaged in your secret sins, confess them before a loving God and call upon the mercy He holds out to us in Christ.

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