The Complacency of God's People - Part 1

(the LORD speaking to His people through Amos)

Woe to you who are complacent in Zion,
    and to you who feel secure on Mount Samaria,
you notable men of the foremost nation,
    to whom the people of Israel come!
Go to Calneh and look at it;
    go from there to great Hamath,
    and then go down to Gath in Philistia.
Are they better off than your two kingdoms?
    Is their land larger than yours?

Amos 6:1-2 (NIV)

A warning to God's people through Amos against a false basis for contentment, specifically confidence in religious affiliation, those "who are complacent in Zion and... feel secure on Mount Samaria." This would be the modern equivalent of being smug about belonging to a particular denomination or church. The prophet takes aim especially at the religious leadership, the "notable men... to whom the people... come!"

The next verse is a commentary on vain comparisons as a bolster for assuming religious superiority, interpreted differently in various translations but all versions implying that there is nothing inherent in God's people that elevates them above others, nor is there anything in others that should provoke envy in God's people.

In other words, our significance and satisfaction is in the LORD alone.

C.S. Lewis: "For the supernatural, entering a human soul, opens to it new possibilities of both good and evil. From that point the road branches: one way to sanctity, love, humility, the other to spiritual pride, self-righteousness, persecuting zeal… Of all bad men religious bad men are the worst. Of all created beings, the wickedest is one who originally stood in the immediate presence of God."

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.