Seek the Lord and Live

"'I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town, but withheld rain from another. One field had rain; another had none and dried up. 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." (Amos 4:7-8)

I was reading in Amos last night, a minor prophet in the Old Testament, and came across something that both startled me and amazed me. The previous several books are chalk full of the sins of Israel. The writers of those books describe how Israel, God's chosen people, have fallen away from the Lord. They also describe how the Lord plans to act in order to bring them back to Himself. Amos is no different than these other books. As I have been reading through the Old Testament, I find myself frustrated with Israel. How many times must they fall away from the Lord before they will finally believe that He is all they need? How long must they be in exile before they come running back to God? What must the Lord do in order to make them realize that they will not find satisfaction or fulfillment in anything but Him? 

Last night I found myself in that same frustration. In chapter four of this book, God is listing all the things that He has done to His people. He has emptied their stomachs (v.6), withheld the rain (v.7), destroyed their crops (v.9), send plagues and killed their people (v. 10), and overthrew some of them (v.11). And "'yet you have not returned to me,' declares the the Lord" (v. 6, 8, 9, 10, & 11). God has done all of this, and the Israelites have not returned to Him. They continue to find fulfillment in other things. They try to quench their thirst with every kind of liquid other than the Living Water. What must it take? What must be done for them to return to the Father?

I kept reading on into chapter five and rested on the beginning of verse six. It read, "Seek the Lord and live". 

And then it hit me. I am Israel. How many times must I fall away from the Lord before I finally believe that He is all I need? How long must I be in exile and darkness before I come running back to God? What must the Lord do in order to make me realize that I will not find satisfaction for fulfillment in anything but Him?

Sometimes God sends plagues and drought into our life to get our attention. Sometimes He uses the darkness and pain in our lives to bring us back to Him. But what will it take for you and me to realize this? Does God need starve us of food and water? Does He need to destroy our crops, the fruit of our lives (job, family)? Does He need to send a plague (sickness, depression, anxiety)? What will it take before we finally realize that true fulfillment and satisfaction is in the Lord? "Seek the Lord and live". 

True life is in God. We will search our whole lives and never find a life that satisfies us as completely as the life that the Lord provides. I can look back on my life, at the darkest points in my life, and see the Lord's hand bringing me back to Him. He has sent drought and plagues into my life, how long will it take for me to return to Him? What must it take for me to finally seek the Lord so that I may live?

The picture above is one I took of a quote on a coffee cup I got in Sisters, OR. It says, "The Glory of God is man fully alive." If life is in God, then to seek Him is to glorify Him. May we seek the Lord now, and live fully in Him. E.