The Orientation of Our Heart: Amos 5:21-27
God knows if our heart is wrong, our actions don’t really matter. Ever get a gift from an unwilling giver? Ever receive an apology from someone who doesn’t mean it? Such actions are empty. An uncaring gift or an ungrateful apology are hollow. They accomplish the necessary goal but do so while taking away any benefit received.
This passage is one of my personal favorite passages in all of Amos. There are few passages directly pointed to the heart of God as these verses. If you want to know what God values, this set of verses is a great place to begin.
God tells the people that He despises their feasts and takes no joy in the solemn gatherings. When He speaks about this, He is talking about their gatherings for worship, not some weekend party or funeral celebration. God follows it up by saying He will not accept their burnt offerings. Not only will God not accept their worship, He desires that it be removed from His presence. Their worship is annoying to Him!
Imagine your very act of worship being obnoxious to your God. From an ancient perspective, this is disastrous. The gods were the last and best line of defense against things beyond our ability to control. The gods were protection from drought, famine, foreign invasion, and other horrible calamities. If your god finds your worship obnoxious, you lose your protection and have no means to maintain favor.
Fortunately, God is clear about why He finds their worship obnoxious. He tells them to let justice roll down like waters, righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. God doesn’t want functionaries. God doesn’t want people who passionlessly go through the motions. God wants relationship. He wants people who live a certain way because they want to. God wants us to follow His ways because we value them. That’s the heart of this passage. What credit do I receive if I am obedient without passion or purpose?
God doesn’t need my sacrifices or worship to become stronger. He is not made more grand as more people choose to follow Him. God does not want us to follow Him for His sake! God wants us to follow Him for our sake. We are the ones made better by following Him. We are the ones whose communities grow strong by aligning our thoughts and actions with His. God doesn’t need our acts of worship; He wants our hearts of worship. Just like God did not need the Hebrew sacrifices in the wilderness, He doesn’t need them now.
Because the hearts of the people are not with Him, God will send His people away. Some of them will be scattered to the wind and stay scattered. Others will be scattered, repent, and find their way back to Him. God knows if our heart is right, then our actions will be right as well. God also knows if our heart is wrong, our actions don’t really matter.
