FAILING TO RETURN
Lesson
prepared by: krisha of Solomon FB page
APRIL
14, 2019
MEMORY VERSE:
If we
believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
(2 Timothy 2:13)
INTRODUCTION:
Do You believe that
everything happens for a reason? These words we commonly utter to people when
we want them to be comforted because of their struggles and problems in life.
Have you encountered talking to people asking your ideas about a certain situation
if it’s God’s will or not? Have you experienced many struggles in life and yet
you still don’t have that wisdom to distinguish what is right from wrong?
Sometimes people say that adults know more than younger ones in this life
because of experiences in life but personally, I don’t believe that; at some
point they have more experiences though. Because wisdom comes from above, we
can get that as we get closer to the Lord no matter what age you have (James
1:5).
When I got saved in
the year 1991, my attention was caught of a man who rendered his song for the
Lord because he sang expressively. He was also friendly maybe because he was
assigned to be one of the usherettes. I used to see him cleaning the chairs,
arranging the songbooks and leading the congregation in singing; he was always
scheduled to be a song leader that time. Years passed and suddenly noticed he
was not attending the church service anymore; many visits the members did to
encourage him but failed to bring him back. After many years, we heard that he
faced minor road accident and after that incident, we happily saw him attending
again after many years. I had an opportunity to talk to him about his coming
back and he said, “Of all the things
that happened to me, I believe this is the hand of God calling me to come
back.” His words made me emotionally touched because he talked spiritually.
I thought that was a continuous service for him, but it was not; he stopped
again with unsure reasons of stopping. After that, we heard he faced many
problems and struggles in life and, his family was his biggest problem too. You
know what he failed to return not
because he didn’t want to but because he had a severe illness that made him not
to walk anymore. I can’t help but cry when we visited him. He felt sorry for
all his shortcomings. He wanted to serve and sing again for the Lord, but he
didn’t make it. His body surrendered and died. Let’s not wait the time of
losing our strength before we realize we need to go back and serve the Lord.
Our lesson for today is titled, “FAILING TO RETURN.”
LESSON
POINTS:
1. GOD GAVE HUNGER YET WE
HAVE NOT RETURNED UNTO HIM (AMOS 4:6)
Notice that God "gave" them hunger, and
in the next verse He "withheld the rain." Nobody wants to lack
anything in life, and yet it is clear that suffering can have additional
meaning, in that part of its purpose is to bring us to a deeper relationship
with God. Almighty God is absolutely sovereign. He knows everything
and can DO all things. We were created for relationship with Him, and He
will do what it takes to save us, even if our comfort zone is shaken in the
process.
2.
GOD GAVE DROUGHT YET WE HAVE NOT RETURNED UNTO HIM (AMOS 4:7-8)
God, through the
prophet Amos, continues to present evidence for the prosecution in determining
the fate of the nation Israel. Their lack of faith, their unbelief, was
demonstrated clearly in their response to recent events. God had allowed
famine and hunger to become widespread in that land (Verse 6). It either
WAS in their land or this was a prophesy that soon would come to pass. In
either event, did they (or would they) PRAY to Him for help? They did not
pray and would not pray, and that was the problem.
Honest prayer is an
expression of belief in God. Prayer can be called "applied
faith." If you pray, it is a sign that you have some kind of belief
in the Lord - otherwise you would not do it. If a crisis comes and you do
not pray, it demonstrates the presence of unbelief in your heart and
life. In this verse, God observes something interesting to them: The lack
of rainfall they had recently experienced was selective in nature. In
would interestingly rain in one place, but not in another. They should have
recognized in this unusual pattern (for that region), an Intelligent Hand in
what was happening to them.
So many times, we respond to our difficulties with intense
EFFORT, which was what Israel was doing at that time. They of the cities
that had not received rain, would feverishly send wagons, buckets and whatever
else they had, to areas where the rain was abundant. Their effort was
commendable, but they did not pray to God for help. The fact that they
did not pray indicates that their hearts were far from Him.
To be fair, many of them probably DID pray, but the nation
had fallen deeply into idolatry, and worse than no prayer at all, they likely
had been seeking help from worthless idols. What do YOU do when trouble
fills your life? Do you "stagger" from one "solution"
to another? When troubles come, we should reach out to Him who loves
us. The problem we have may or may not personally be directed at us, but
the solution will be in His hand.
Two or three cities,
that is, the inhabitants of them, being without water, went up and down in
quest of any city or place where they could find water for themselves and
cattle to drink.
“But they were not
satisfied”: Could not get enough for their present use and much less to carry
back with them to supply them for any length of time. Such a scarcity there was
of it in other parts (see 1 Kings 18:5).
“Yet have ye not
returned unto me, saith the Lord”: This had no more effect upon them than the
other to relinquish their former courses and return unto the Lord by
humiliation and repentance.
Sometimes the drought
was so bad that they had to go to another city to get water. They still did not
recognize God's hand in this and did not repent.
3. GOD SMOTE BLASTING AND MILDEW TO OUR GARDENS AND VINEYARDS YET
WE HAVE NOT RETURNED UNTO HIM (AMOS 4:9)
Literally,
"an exceeding scorching," such as the hot east wind produced and
"an exceeding mildew," a blight, in which the ears turn untimely a
pale yellow, and had no grain. Both words are doubly intensive. They stand
together in the prophecy of Moses (Deut. 28:22), among the other scourges of
disobedience.
The
palmer worm devoured them; just when they were budding and blossoming, and
bringing forth fruit; and so what the blasting and mildew did not consume, the
palmer worm, a kind of locust, did. Which has its name from its biting and
cutting off the leaves and branches of trees, as of those mentioned vines,
olives and fig trees, with which the land of Canaan abounded, the cutting off
which was a great calamity.
“Yet
have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord”: This dispensation of Providence
was also without its desired fruit and effect (see Amos 4:6).
Even
when they did make a crop, God sent mildew and ruined the fruit and vegetables.
They still did not realize they were being punished for sin in their lives, and
they did not repent and turn to God. Even the palmerworm (a type of locust) did
not cause them to repent.
God's
promise had been to bless them if they obeyed Him, and to curse them if they
did not. If they had known His Word, they should have understood what was
happening. It was within their own power to stop all of this. They just needed
to repent and return to God.
4. GOD SENT PESTILENCE YET
WE HAVE NOT RETURNED UNTO HIM (AMOS 4:10)
“I
have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt”: That is, after
the way in which God had dealt with Egypt. God had twice promised, when the
memory of the plagues which He sent on Egypt was still fresh in their minds:
"if thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, I will
put none of the diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the
Egyptians" (Exodus 15:26; Deut. 7:15).
“Your
young men have I slain with the sword”: Of the enemy in battle; or as they were
in the way to Egypt, being sent there to fetch food, but were intercepted by
the enemy.
“And
have taken away your horses”: On which they rode to Egypt on the above errand.
Or rather which they brought up from thence, contrary to the command of God.
“And
have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils”: Such numbers
of their armies being slain, and these lying unburied, the smell of them was
very noisome.
“Yet
have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord”: Still they continued to be
obstinate and impenitent (see Amos 4:6).
Each
punishment that God sent on them became a little worse, but it did no good at
all. They did not repent. Even the loss of their sons to the sword, did not
cause them to repent. The loss of their horses did not affect them either. The
stink comes from the unburied dead bodies, possibly from some battle.
5. WE WERE AS A FIREBRAND
PLUCKED OUT FROM THE BURNING YET WE HAVE NOT RETURNED UNTO HIM (AMOS 4:11)
A detailed account of the utter destruction
of the city-states called Sodom and Gomorrah is in Genesis Chapter 19.
The concluding verses of Genesis 18 reflect Father Abraham's prayers for the
people of Sodom, in which God revealed that He would spare them if even
"ten" inhabitants were "righteous" (Genesis 18:26, 28 &
context). The fact that Sodom and Gomorrah were NOT spared, is a clear
indication that the places had become utterly corrupt.
From the context of Genesis 19:5,
many have concluded that the chief sin of Sodom was homosexuality, the
"gay" lifestyle. But actually there was much more. God
revealed their sin through the prophet Ezekiel: "Look, THIS was the
iniquity of your sister Sodom. She and her daughter had pride, fullness of
food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the
poor and needy..." (Ezekiel 16:49). They were proud, and yet, like
He has done for you and me, God gave them everything. In response to what
we have been given, God reasonably expects that we, in turn, will be drawn to
help others! To NOT "strengthen the hand of the poor..." is to
invite destruction.
Israel was like a "firebrand snatched from a
blaze" (verse 11). The imagery is a wildfire that comes out of the
brush and sweeps through the village, and yet, just ONE "house" is
saved, and it is by the grace of God! He had cared for them and tenderly helped
the nation Israel, and when they turned their backs on Him; He allowed TROUBLE
to come into their lives so they would see their need! But STILL, they did
not trust in Him!
God
saw Israel as a glowing ember plucked from
the fires of judgment, like the same judgment that consumed Sodom and Gomorrah.
Even though God spared them, they did not respond in gratitude – they have not returned to God.
CONCLUSION:
There are so many things happened in
our lives that we become blinded with the hands of the Lord. This is what
happened to Pharaoh; his heart was hardened and didn’t recognize God’s hand. In
Exodus chapter 8, The Lord sent Moses to Pharaoh and asked his permission to
let them go out of the land of Egypt and served God. When Pharaoh refused, God
sent frogs to the land of Egyptians, but Pharaoh tried to go against the plague.
He asked his magicians to imitate the frogs by their enchantments; the
magicians did so. Pharaoh hardened his heart and God sent lice to their land,
but the magicians tried to imitate but they failed. Let’s read the verse in
Exodus 8:18-19,
18 And the magicians did so with their
enchantments to bring forth lice, but
they could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast.
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