Good Morning Friends,
“‘I gave you empty stomachs in every city and
lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me,’ declares the
LORD. ‘I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months
away. I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another. One field had
rain; another had none and dried up. People staggered from town to town for
water but did not get enough to drink, yet you have not returned to me,’
declares the LORD. ‘Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, I struck
them with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you
have not returned to me,’ declares the LORD. ‘I sent plagues among you as I did
to Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured
horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps, yet you have not
returned to me,’ declares the LORD. ‘I overthrew some of you as I overthrew
Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire, yet
you have not returned to me,’ declares the LORD.” (Amos 4:6-11)
Famine. Drought. Disease. Pests. Plagues.
War. Disaster.
These were the tools of God to try to bring
Israel back to Him. He used them all. He emptied His arsenal of instruments
against them in an attempt to wake them up. He tried over and again. He waited
patiently for them to respond.
But they did not respond as He wanted them to
respond. They did not return to Him. They cried out in their sorrow, but did
not repent. They kept on with their empty ceremonies and rituals, but they did
not repent of their sins and return to the Lord.
Was Israel stubborn or blind, or both?
Earthquakes. Floods. Tornados. Hurricanes. Fires.
Disease. Famine.
God continues to use His arsenal of tools in
an attempt to get the people of the world to wake up. He uses them all. It
seems as though He is holding nothing back. He is emptying His arsenal. He is
waiting patiently.
The world cries out in anguish and sometimes
in anger toward God, but they do repent. The world does not return to the Lord.
Is it stubbornness, blindness, or both?
His, by Grace,
Steve
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