AMOS 4:6-11 THE THUNDERING VELVET HAND OF OUR FATHER

6 “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.
7 “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. 8 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.
9 “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.
10 “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.
11 “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.

Attributing worth to another necessarily entails acknowledging both who that one is and what he does. True worship then must take into consideration our entire relationship with God and not just how we would like him to be or the things he does that make us feel good. If we believe that God is truly sovereign, then we must acknowledge that he is involved in some way in everything that occurs. Since his ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8), we may never know exactly how he is involved, but we need to consider how he might be using everything in our lives to bring us into closer relationship with him. After all, if we believe that God is a God of order, then the option of random chance is not left open to us. Whether we attempt to explain the events around us as caused by God’s direct will or allowed by his permissive will, we always need to view all events through the divine lens of how God might be using these events and circumstances to help us better know him and ourselves relative to him.

We must train ourselves for adversity so that when it comes we will be prepared to use it to drive us closer to God rather than further away from God. The necessary training comes through focusing on God in our everyday life and not just the moments of intentional study, prayer and worship. Once it becomes routine to acknowledge God acting in every aspect of our day, we will be able to learn the lessons he has for us through the crucible of adversity. Our attention should be on the lesson to be learned rather than the cause of the event. The latter will become obvious as we live into the lesson and find that repentance is needed in order to grow closer to the Lord.

Father, how many times have I dismissed your loving discipline and missed an opportunity to grow closer to you because of my arrogant blindness? Open my eyes to your “thundering velvet hand” so that my attention might be engaged and my heart reset upon you. Amen.