Good Trouble

Thanks for joining us for today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

Our reading titled Good Trouble was written by Wynn Collier. When John Lewis, an American congressman and civil rights leader, died in 2020, people from many political persuasions mourned. In 1965, Lewis marched with Martin Luther King Jr. to secure voting rights for black citizens.

During the march, Lewis suffered a cracked skull, causing scars he carried for the rest of his life. When you see something that is not right, not just, not fair, Lewis said, you have a moral obligation to say something, to do something. He also said, never ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good, necessary trouble. Lewis learned early that doing what was right, to be faithful to the truth, required making good trouble.

He would need to speak things that were unpopular. The prophet Amos knew this too. Seeing Israel's sin and injustice, he couldn't keep quiet. Amos denounced how the powerful were oppressing the innocent and taking bribes and depriving the poor of justice in the courts, while building stone mansions with lush vineyards. Rather than maintaining his own safety and comfort by staying out of the fray, Amos named the evil. The prophet made good, necessary trouble, but this trouble aimed at something good, justice for all. Let justice roll on like a river, Amos exclaimed. When we get into good trouble, the kind of righteous, nonviolent trouble justice requires, the goal is always goodness and healing.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Amos chapter 5 verses 10 through 24. There are those who hate the one who upholds justice in court and detests the one who tells the truth. You levy a straw tax on the poor and impose a tax on their grain. Therefore, though you have built stone mansions, you will not live in them. Though you have planted lush vineyards, you will not drink their wine. For I know how many are your offenses and how great your sins. There are those who oppress the innocent and take bribes and deprive the poor of justice in the courts. Therefore, the prudent keep quiet in such times, for the times are evil. Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the Lord God Almighty will be with you, just as you say He is.

Hate evil, love good, maintain justice in the courts. Perhaps the Lord God Almighty will have mercy on the remnant of Joseph. Therefore, this is what the Lord, the Lord God Almighty says. There will be wailing in all the streets and cries of anguish in every public square. The farmers will be summoned to weep and the mourners to wail. There will be wailing in all the vineyards, for I will pass through your midst, says the Lord. Woe to you who long for the day of the Lord! Why do you long for the day of the Lord? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion, only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall, only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light?

Pitch dark, without a ray of brightness? I hate, I despise your religious festivals. Your assemblies are a stench to me. Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring Choice Fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them.

Away with the noise of your songs, I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream. Let's pray.

Father in Heaven, often when we are left to ourselves, we like to play it safe and keep quiet. You, however, want us to be good and necessary troublemakers. Help us to be bold in proclaiming the truth and seeking justice for all people. Give us discernment as we seek and carry out your will for our lives. Thank you, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.