Let Justice Roll On Like A River

Amos 5:24 (NIV)

 ‘But let justice roll on like a river,
    righteousness like a never-failing stream!’

Every night I pray Scriptures with my 3-year-old daughter. Amos 5:24 is one of our favourites. I pick her up as we prepare for the 720 double sausage-roll flip onto the bed: ‘We pray for Birmingham that you would let justice roll… (flinging her in the air)… on like a river and righteousness like a never-failing stream’. Whilst having fun, we’re seeking the Lord to restore justice and righteousness in our city.

The prophet Amos (who lived in the Southern Kingdom of Judah) was sent by God to Israel (the Northern kingdom), a nation led astray as they worshipped the foreign gods of sex (Asherah), war (Anat), and weather (Baal). They also continued their religious ceremonies and sacrifices to the God of Israel. Blind to their hypocrisy, worshipping other ‘gods’ inevitably led to injustice: the poor were ignored and abused, forced into debt slavery and then denied legal rights!

In Amos 5:24 God called Israel to ‘justice’ - to take action to correct injustice to the poor, and ‘righteousness’– to have right relationships where people are treated as equal despite social differences. And this justice and righteousness should flow like a river and a never-ending stream. Think of Niagara Falls or Iguazu Falls; thundering rivers where the water keeps on coming and coming and coming… never ending!

Birmingham is a city where rich and poor live alongside one another. The ministry of Love Your Neighbour at Gas Street seeks to befriend and draw alongside those who are affected by injustice in so many ways.

God, through Amos, calls us to true worship without rival idols, to pray and to act to restore justice and righteousness.

Reflect – How are you playing a part in God’s mission to restore justice and righteousness in the city? Are their new ways in which God is calling you to true worship, to pray and to take action?