The people took pride in being the people of the Lord.
As such they maintained all the religious gatherings and festivals. At the same time, however, they oppressed the poor, allowed themselves to be governed by materialism, and refused to let the Word of our God—as faithfully proclaimed by people like Amos—truly sink in.
Cushites
were sons of Ham, the grandchild of Noah who was cursed after the flood. In the time of Amos, Cush was a very insignificant nation. Our God therefore asks the people of Israel, Do you really think, as you conduct yourselves now, that you are more special to me than those Cushites?
That question was meant to get the Israelites to step back and think about what they were doing.
That question also prompts us today to think about what we are truly doing when we ignore the ways of our God! In this way, we make ourselves not special
to our God anymore! Though Christ and his Spirit has made us very special and very precious to him, we then make ourselves not special at all
to him.
We are special! God has made us part of his people. He has adopted us as his children. He has signed and sealed this to us in our baptism. He reminds us of this every week in the preaching—and has this confirmed time and again in the Lord’s Supper.
Given that reality, let us simply be who we are. Let us act special. How should we act special? By first of all being devoted to our God. Let us pray to him; let us worship him; let us call upon him. Secondly, let us truly listen to him; let us hear what he has to say to us. Thirdly, let us follow him at every single turn of life—as we work, as we relate with each other, as we play sport, as we drive down the road.
7 “Are you not like the Cushites to me, O people of Israel?” declares the LORD. “Did I not bring up Israel from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Syrians from Kir?