In the book of Amos, the prophet recorded God’s disappointment with Israel. God had chastised His people in myriad ways, and yet they refused to come to repentance. Consider the ways that God chastised His people.
POVERTY: “‘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” (4:8).
DROUGHT: “‘I also withheld rain from you, when there were still three months to the harvest… Yet you have not returned to Me’, says the Lord” (4:7,8).
FAMINE: “I blasted you with blight and mildew. When your gardens increased, your vineyards, your fig trees, and your olive trees, the locus devoured them; yet you have not returned to Me,’ says the Lord.” (4:9).
PLAGUE AND WARFARE: “‘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 a stench of your camps come up into your nostrils; yet you have not returned to Me,’ says the Lord.” (4:10).
CAPTIVITY: “‘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” (4:11).
Finally, note God’s response to their recalcitrance. “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” (4:12-13).
What do we learn from this interaction with Israel?
- God chastises nations, for the purpose of bringing repentance, and righteousness to them (cf. Acts 17:26-31).
- God chastises individuals for the same reason (cf. Hebrews 12:3-11).
- Such chastisements utilize natural means to turn our minds to our dependence upon God, and our need to repent (“For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: ‘Seek me and live’” [Amos 5:4]).
- We must acknowledge God’s involvement in the natural world, and that the trials and tribulations of life may have as their genesis a rebuke from the Almighty Himself. The nature of His providential involvement is such that in the absence of a declaration of His work, we can never be sure if hardship is a matter of happenstance, or Divine chastisement. Regardless, our response should always be the same. Serious self-examination, and if needed, a penitent heart!
CONCLUSION: Paul wrote, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless indeed you are disqualified.” (2 Corinthians 13:5).
Pandemics, wars, national strife, unrest, economic hardship, hunger, abuse, corruption, and persecution of the faithful. We are living in difficult times, and God’s people are suffering, along with the rest of humanity! Is there a message from God in the midst of the suffering? Does it matter? Regardless, our response should be the same! May we all examine ourselves to see if we are in the faith. We must return to the Lord. We must “seek [God] and live!”
To see The Patternists Page on Facebook, click here, and Like!
