Sunday 16 Jun 2013

Sunday Reading: Amos 5:4-6

Key Verse: Amos 5:5
5  But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.

Devotion:
When God told the Israelites events through the prophets there were many times when they simply did not listen because they did not want to hear what was being said. When we hear bad news we often turn away from it to try and avoid the outcome in some way – but when that message comes from God we are going to have to listen because it is going to happen!

Amos was trying to reinforce the Word of God by reminding the people once again that God had promised bad things for the people who refused to follow Him. Not that God was going to do bad things to them but that the people around them, the people who did not follow God, the people in the lands around them, would come in and destroy much of what they once had given to them.

When God gives us things we need to remember that God has given them to us for a reason and we need to be good stewards of what He gives us so that we can not only enjoy them but apply them in our lives as He has designed them. God gave the Israelites many things so that others around would see the power of God and turn toward Him. When the Israelites took to showing others their own power and might then God warned them that they would fall into enemy hands because He was not behind them in those cases.

It is a case of listening to what God is saying to us and then following those instructions rather than making our own instructions and designs. There are times that we see what He has done in our past and we go forward to do something thinking that He must be behind us because it is similar to what He first asked us. What we actually need to be doing is asking direction from God and following His direction rather than making our own and expecting Him to be with us. It is difficult to watch and wait sometimes, but God is the only one who does know the perfect timing. Sometimes He just wants us to wait a short while longer to give others a chance to hear His word before we go in and assume control.

Points to Ponder:
Do you rush in to projects?

Are you following God or trying to lead Him?