As we continue to examine the book of Amos, we will be focusing on 5:18 through 6:14, a passage both searing and redemptive, one that pierces the heart of a people at ease, yet distant from the purposes of God.

Amos, a herdsman, was called by God to speak truth to power, to shake a nation lulled into complacency by its prosperity and religious rituals, yet blind to the justice and mercy God demands.

Let us listen carefully to these words, for though they were first spoken to ancient Israel, their echoes resound in our own time, in our own hearts, and in the life of our own nation.