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

Our reading titled Good Trouble was written by Wyn 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.

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