Amos 6:10-14: a reflection

10“When a man’s relative carries him, even he who burns him, to bring bodies out of the house, and asks him who is in the innermost parts of the house, ‘Is there yet any with you?’ And he says, ‘No;’ then he will say, ‘Hush! Indeed we must not mention the LORD’s name.’ 11“For, behold, the LORD commands, and the great house will be smashed to pieces, and the little house into bits. 12Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness, 13you who rejoice in a thing of nothing, who say, ‘Haven’t we taken for ourselves horns by our own strength?’ 14For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, house of Israel,” says the LORD, the God of Armies; “and they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah.”

Amos rebukes a people grown proud and complacent, who had turned justice into poison, and who boasted in their own strength. They said, in effect: Have we not by our own strength taken horns for ourselves? They credited their success and their gains to their own strength, boasting in what they had achieved, as though it were all their own doing. And God warns that he will raise up a nation against them; their proud confidence in their own strength was misplaced and would not save them.

Notice the pride Amos names: boasting in one's own strength, crediting one's achievements to oneself. They looked at what they had gained and said, we did this by our own strength, taking the credit to themselves and glorying in it. It is the pride that forgets God, that attributes success to its own power and ability, that boasts in achievement as though it were self-made. And it is a false and dangerous confidence, for the strength we boast in cannot finally save us.

That pride is one we can fall into, boasting in our own strength and crediting our achievements to ourselves. When things go well, when we succeed and gain, we are tempted to say, in our hearts, we did this by our own strength and ability, taking the credit and glorying in it, forgetting God. But such confidence is misplaced; our strength is not our own to boast in, and it cannot finally save us. When you succeed, do not credit your achievements to your own strength and boast in them, forgetting God who gave you the strength and the opportunity. Guard against the pride that says, we did this by our own strength; give God the credit for what you achieve, and do not put your confidence in a strength that is not finally your own and cannot save. Boast not in your own strength, but in the God who gives all you have.

Lord, Amos rebuked a proud, complacent people who had turned justice into poison and boasted in their own strength, saying, have we not by our own strength taken horns for ourselves; and you warned that their confidence in their own strength would not save them. Show me that pride, which I can fall into: boasting in my own strength, crediting my achievements to myself. When things go well, when I succeed and gain, I am tempted to say, in my heart, I did this by my own strength and ability, taking the credit and glorying in it, forgetting you. But such confidence is misplaced; my strength is not my own to boast in, and it cannot finally save me. When I succeed, keep me from crediting my achievements to my own strength and boasting in them, forgetting you, who gave me the strength and the opportunity. Guard me against the pride that says, I did this by my own strength; help me give you the credit for what I achieve, and not put my confidence in a strength that is not finally my own and cannot save. Help me boast not in my own strength, Lord, but in you, who give all I have.