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Amos 6:12-13. "Do horses run upon rocks? Does one plow the sea with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood - you who rejoice in Lodebar, who say 'Have we not, by our own strength taken Karnaim for ourselves?'"

 

Whenever we think we've done something by our own strength we're in trouble. The only thing we can truly do on our own is sin, drawing ourselves away from God. The Israelites had become proud, boasting of military victories they had accomplished on their own. This won't end well for them, as God foretells in the next verse, promising to raise up an oppressive nation against them (Amos 6:14). They may feel themselves to be mighty, swift horses, but the ground they are running over is very rocky.

 

The "rocks" the Israelites are attempting to run over are the effects of their non-reliance on God. They are taking matters into their own hands, including military matters, and not consulting God first, or at all. Some things we do may not be sinful in and of themselves, but become so when we do them on our own. It was not sinful for Israel to conquer other cities and nations when God wanted them to, but it was when they did it because in their pride they thought they could, and boasted about it when they did. Anything, even a good thing, can become problematic when we pursue it without God, thinking that we are doing what is right and good on our own. Then those things, as good as they might be if done in God's will, become instead rocks under our feet, making our journey much more difficult.

 

King David's life provides some good examples of this. When David was acting in accordance with God's will, things went very well for him and all of Israel, but when he allowed pride to take over, such as when he decided to take a census (1 Chronicles 21), he and all of Israel were punished for it. A census is not a bad thing, and God sometimes told Israel to take one (as He did in Numbers 1:1-2), but this census was inspired by Satan (1 Chronicles 21:1) to feed the king's and nation's pride.

 

There are a couple of lessons here. First, we have to practice discernment, always asking God for guidance, and not just do things because we've always done them, even if we know that they have been the good and right thing to do in the past. Every decision is made in a unique set of circumstances, and only God knows all of them. He wants to guide us in His will, but He won't if we don't let Him. Second, don't take God's answer in the past to be His answer always, ask again the next time. Third, some things are objectively good, or neutral, like a census, or voting, but even they can lead to problems if we rely solely on ourselves, trusting in our own judgment. Other things, like war or the death penalty, may be just in certain circumstances, but they are much closer to the edge of sin, and we need to be very careful with them.

 

If we, individually or as a nation, have "turned justice into poison", relying on ourselves to determine what is just and good, then the decisions we make can result in great damage. The further we go down this road of self-reliance, the more corrupt our understanding of justice becomes, as we start seeing ourselves as the center of it. All of this leads to great damage to ourselves and to our society. 

 

God guides the people and nations who are close to Him over even, easy ground, leading them to goodness and holiness. When we follow only ourselves, thinking we are we know what is best, the ground becomes rocky and we cannot get where we are meant to be.