Here is the trap which has succeeded, through the ages:Prosperity without, but proud, idolatrous and selfish, within. In the ninth century, God's people were being undermined from within. This is such a killer! The situations without can turn our eyes away from our inner state, yet what's happening within tells us the true state of our heart and points to the course of our life. The inner state is more important than the externals, the barren materialism, which entraps many. Appeasing the flesh means looking away from God. Anything apart from God, is flesh. It may look or feel so good, it may even be defined as the lap of luxury, but in the process of “enjoyment” one dies, spiritually. One dies, spiritually, even as the outward gleams, even as one grows fatter or richer, it’s a mere disguise for death! God brings this ongoing deception to man's attention and provides him with an option in Amos 5:4:“Seek me (search diligently for me and regard me as more essential than food) so that you may live” AMP

Why is God giving man an option, that is, to seek Him? God wants us to be spiritually live, to truly live, and He knows seeking Him is the only way to that life, which never ends!