Where's God?

Do you remember a few weeks ago I wrote about bad things happening? Recently, it seems the global outcries have increased. . .what with, school girls being taken away from families while they were at school. . .countries invading other countries because the old regime wants their power back. . .fellow country men killing each other in order to gain political control. It doesn't appear to take much for men to kill or attack others, whether they are helpless girls or armed fellow citizens.

It's really sad to see all this happening. While most of these countries do not recognize God as their god, there are some who might ask why doesn't God intervene? In a sermon years ago, the pastor stated God can't be expected to be around when things turn bad if he wasn't asked or accepted when things were going good; he can't be where he wasn't asked to come in.

While this is true I had my eyes opened to another possibility when I read Amos 4. God called a 'non-prophet' shepherd, Amos, to speak prophecy about destruction to the well-to-do temple-going people in Bethel during a time of relative peace. Chapter four talks about what God is sending and what he has already caused or allowed in order to get the attention of his people so that they will turn back to him.

What gets me is how similar Amos 4 sounds to today. One city getting rain, almost too much, and another city on the brink of severe drought. One city borrowing water from another. The destruction of vegetation by pests. Diseases and murders. Some people being spared from the edge of destruction and still not turning to God.

Amos does speak of hope, though. In verse 5:4 he tells the people to seek God so that they may be saved. And, he ends his prophecy by saying that the destroyed cities will be rebuilt and vegetation restored.

So when I think about how bad things look, I hope to remember God will use this to bring people to him. God's purpose is being served. Let's pray that not only in our country, but in countries being thrown into the eyes of the world, there will be a calling out and returning to the one true God.