SCRIPTURE: Amos 4
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
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. [Amos 4:7-8]
God does what He does to get out attention.
The rain, the sun, the harvest, the seasons, times of blessing and times of crisis.
All of these things come from God, or are allowed by God, to call us back to Him.
Yet how many of us ignore Him, take Him for granted, rely on His gifts but not Him?
You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. [Matthew 5:43-45]
Here we see that God does what He does because of His love for all.
He sends the sun and the rain, because of His love.
Including the times when He sends too much rain, or too much sun.
These are occasions to remind us that we rely on Him, are dependent on Him.
These gifts are not just sent to the one’s that worship Him, He does this for all.
For God so loved the world that He sent… the rain, the son, and His Son! [John 3:16].
It’s hard to think of disasters and crises as gifts of God’s love.
To be sure, they are not His preferred gifts, and had we not rebelled against Him, He would not have needed to send these kinds of gifts.
But because He loves us, and refuses to watch us ruin ourselves, He sends gifts of all kinds – the good and the bad – to draw us back to Himself.
From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. [Acts 17:26-27]
So that they would seek Him, reach out for Him and find Him.
Though He is not far from any one of us – in fact, His love keeps Him very close.
Where is God trying to get your attention today?
Where is He using the circumstances of your life to get you to see Him?
PRAYER:
Lord, too often I am too busy to slow down long enough to see where You are trying to get my attention. Help me not to wait until it is too late.