You Just Don't Get It....

"Also I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities. And lack of bread in all your places; Yet you have not returned to Me," Says the LORD.  "I also withheld rain from you, When there were still three months to the harvest. I made it rain on one city, I withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon, And where it did not rain the part withered. So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water, But they were not satisfied; Yet you have not returned to Me," Says the LORD. "I blasted you with blight and mildew. When your gardens increased, Your vineyards, Your fig trees, And your olive trees, The locust devoured them; Yet you have not returned to Me," Says the LORD.  "I sent among you a plague after the manner of Egypt; Your young men I killed with a sword, Along with your captive horses; I made the stench of your camps come up into your nostrils; Yet you have not returned to Me," Says the LORD.   "I overthrew some of you, As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, And you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning; Yet you have not returned to Me," Says the LORD.  "Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!" For behold, He who forms mountains, And creates the wind, Who declares to man what his thought is, And makes the morning darkness, Who treads the high places of the earth— The LORD God of hosts is His name. --Amos 4:6-13

Dear Girls,

I took a brief respite to read a few chapters in Amos. These few verses hit me hard. Israel just did not get it.  God had tried everything to get there attention...famine, drought, agricultural diseases, plague and war but after each He says the same heartbreaking words to them.  I hear a Mom or a Dad's voice here...speaking to a wayward child.

Yet you have not returned to Me," Says the LORD.  


If you are going through difficult times, please consider that the Lord may be using them in an attempt to get your attention and turn you from your own way into His perfect one. He wants you prepared to meet your God...the Israelites were anything but prepared.  Are you?  They were ignoring His kindnesses and also His many attempts to get their attention and going their own way.  God, however, is not mocked. The time of pleading ends and judgment does come.   He always wins whether you acknowledge Him as God or not.  Later on in chapter 5, God tells them to seek Him and live.  Seek the Lord while He can be found.  A deep and intimate relationship with Him will bring about the greatest and most glorious dividends you can imagine. 

This kind of relationship with Jesus Christ is built over time.  It is built as you abide in Him.  It takes courage to take that first step and ask Him into your heart as your Lord and Savior. As you walk with Him day by day, it takes courage to yield your desires to Him.  But His grace is always there. You never have to worry about disappointing Him...your success is assured...He performs all things in accordance with His plan not yours.  And His plan is from a heart of love. (Psalm 33:11) 

Again, as I have said before in other posts, stay close to Jesus, abide in Him by staying in His Word. Gaze into it...allow it to show you His good and perfect will, to convict your heart of sin, to renew your mind and to transform you into His image. As you do this you will love Him more and more with each passing day and consequently trust and obey Him more and more. Increasingly, you will feel His presence staying your heart and your mind with His wisdom and His love.  Stay the course...immerse yourself in His Word...and His peace which is an outflow of the fruit of His Spirit...love...will flood your heart.

Love
Mom