GPS - Grow, Pray, Study Weekly Guide: Wednesday, September 8

Amos 8:1-7

The wealthy merchants of Israel no doubt saw Amos as a rural bumpkin (Amos 1:1) who just didn’t “get” what it took to make it in business. But Amos spoke for God. God saw actions like exploiting the poor or using short weights and measures as a spiritual issue. There was no unique “business” part of life where spiritual values didn’t apply.
Amos lived in a world without standard measures. The principles he taught, though, apply as much today as in his day. What modern practices have you seen that fit the words “we make the measures small and the price of things big”? In what areas are you tempted to think, “The bottom line is all that matters”?
Beyond plain fraud, Amos confronted these pious people (8:3) about how they “trampled the needy.” What “legal” things do you see, on any scale from private to global, which trample and seek to do away with the poor? How can you act to help “justice and righteousness roll on like a river” (Amos 5:24)?