Amos: An Invitation to the Good LifeShembull

On the Hook Well, we’re only dealing with one nation today, but you’re familiar with it because the name came up in our passage yesterday. It’s the fourth of the six enemy nations Amos was calling out. You can find it in Amos 1:11-12. Do you wonder why the nation Edom gets a whole day of study all to herself? Well, the Edomites are like family. Yep, estranged, angry, bitter family! Let’s do our own simplified version of Ancestry.com® because as we understand who the Edomites are, it will teach us a lot about who we are. According to Genesis 36:1,8,19,43, from whom did, the Edomites descend? Esau was the progenitor of the Edomites. Seems it was pretty important for Moses to make this clear in Genesis 36 since God had him mention it so many times! According to Genesis 25:20-26, who was Esau? Esau and Jacob were twin brothers, the sons of Isaac and grandsons of Abraham. To trim up this family tree, Esau became the nation Edom, and Jacob became the nation Israel. Got it? Whew! In Numbers 20:14-21, the Edomites refused the Israelites passage through their territory. It was petty and small. Evidently, this was where the conflict started, but it kept up for years. The Edomites fought against King Solomon (1 Kings 11:14), and they opposed King Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 20:2). Even in Psalm 83, Edom tops the list of enemies. The Edomites were like family but did not show brotherly love. We are like Edom when we choose to hold onto bitterness and withhold brotherly love. Choosing unforgiveness and holding onto hate or bitterness against someone who sinned against us is wrong. It is just as wrong as the sin perpetrated on us. How does that hit you? I know choosing kindness, compassion, and forgiveness is hard when you’ve been hurt. I get it. There’s a human in my life with whom I am in constant forgiveness mode because, in our relationship, I so quickly choose bitterness and start writing out my “record of wrongs”! But the good life is one of brotherly love. And we can live assured that God cares and sees and will hold accountable those who wrong His children. Knowing this, we can let those who wrong us off the hook. That doesn’t mean we have no boundaries or call wrong right—no way. Ultimately, brotherly love looks like Jesus—like laying down your life for another. That is what the God life does; it chooses brotherly love. And when we live assured that God has got us, we live the good life. “Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters.” Hebrews 13:1 (NLT)