7“Furthermore, I withheld the rain from you
While there were still three months until harvest
Then I would send rain on one city
And on another city I would not send rain;
One part would be rained on,
While the part not rained on would dry up.
8“So two or three cities would stagger to another city to drink water,
But would not be satisfied;
Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the LORD.
9“I smote you with scorching wind and mildew;
And the caterpillar was devouring
Your many gardens and vineyards, fig trees and olive trees;
Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the LORD.
10“I sent a plague among you after the manner of Egypt;
I slew your young men by the sword along with your captured horses,
And I made the stench of your camp rise up in your nostrils;
Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the LORD.
11“I overthrew you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
And you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze;
Yet you have not returned to Me,” declares the LORD.
- Amos 4: 7-11
God speaks through the prophet Amos and proclaims to His people His desire that they would return to Him. He recalls times of trouble He allowed to come to pass, in hopes Israel would humble themselves and seek His face.
Through each hardship, however, they did not repent and they did not turn back to Him.
God desired Israel to return, and yet their hardened hearts and stubborn attitudes prevented them, and so God told of pain, angst, and suffering through the prophet Amos.
So often we do not understand God’s purposes and His plans, indeed it is impossible to do so.
Whether we are steeped in sin and need it stripped away through God’s sanctifying grace, or because God loves us enough to refine us that we would seek Him, only God knows His plans and His purposes.
For God is just that, God.
Infinite, incomprehensible, unsearchable, and always majestically and marvelously so.
John Chrysostom said it best when he said, “A God comprehended is no God at all.”
Whether because of our sin or because of God’s purposes (which are always far above us), God will have His way in our life.
Our circumstances are His design, and we have no ground from which to argue (just ask Job).
In all things, God will have His way, and our task is but to respond faithfully.
4 comments
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July 8, 2009 at 9:35 am
Pam
God told me this a few months ago during a sermon through a visiting Pastor at our church – “I will have my way”. Serious conflict and deceit in my 10 year re-marriage while attempting to care for my adult son – my only child who seemed perfectly healthy until the age of 7 when he was diagnosed with a life threatening, neurologically deteriorating condition. 16 years after his “death sentence” was decreed, he is very much alive in spirit, but he lives with severe physical limitations and increasing painful medical issues. My only sibling – an older brother has survived several open heart surgeries, 3 failed marriages is a recovering alcoholic continues to struggle to believe in a God who is Good. He and I also experienced childhood abuse in foster care and I am a domestic abuse survivor. My 80 year old mother has 4 other adult children who struggle with destructive addictive behaviors and she continues to blame others for her problems and complains bitterly about her circumstances. My constant prayer for us all is “have mercy oh Lord. Remove our hearts of stone and replace them with hearts of flesh” Every now and then He gives me a glimpse that my prayers are being answered. I am so thankful for the reminder today that in the end, He WILL have His way!!
July 8, 2009 at 4:24 pm
divietro
God is always faithful and is always working to give you what is best, Himself!
July 8, 2009 at 11:29 am
wellwateredgarden
Ask not that God might come alongside of you … you may be on the wrong track. Ask rather for God to grant that you might come alongside of Him … He is always on the right track.
July 8, 2009 at 4:23 pm
divietro
Amen Amen!!