“He who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals his thoughts to man, he who turns dawn to darkness, and treads the high places of the earth—the LORD God Almighty is his name.”
~ Amos 4:13
Hi James and Ellen,
What do you think will make a guy or gal want to go to God – as God the Father, for help? What do you think will make a guy, gal or kid want to make a decision of faith to believe in what God – as God the Son – Jesus, did for him or her when Jesus died on a cross for the guys, gals and kids who God – as God the Father, especially elected to adopt on the day of their salvation? God – as God the Spirit, is Who leads the guys, gals and kids who have been specially elected by God – as God the Father, to be His adopted kids to and through the grace/faith door into the universal church – which is also known as the Body of Christ. Before He actuated the unfolding of the universe, God – as God the Father – in His own premeditated omnipotent way, designed individualized life tracks for every guy, gal and kid who He specially elected to be His adopted kids to live out their lives in a way that will ultimately lead each guy, gal and kid to His faith/grace door – which He in His mercy will have wide open for these guys, gals and kids when these guys, gals and kids arrive in the exact timeframe that He has for each one of these guys, gals and kids to arrive. When your grandpaa administrated the activities of the summer teams that your grandmaa and grandpaa led in Bolivia and in Guatemala, your grandpaa used a user friendly tract that was written in Spanish that was called Cinco Pasos Hacia La Vida (Five Steps Towards Life) to be able to give a clear, precise presentation of what the Bible says about making a personal decision of faith. Each year that your grandmaa and grandpaa oversaw the activities of a summer team while it was in Bolivia, your grandpaa would schedule the summer team to spend a couple of days in Chochís. Chochís is an isolated railroad town. One year during the time that your grandpaa was with one of the summer teams in Chochís and as he was meandering down one of the badly eroded gravel streets in Chochís looking for a guy or kid to read through with the Cinco Pasos Hacia La Vida tract, your grandpaa met an older guy. When your grandpaa asked if he could read the Cinco Pasos Hacia La Vida tract with him, the guy let your grandpaa. When your grandpaa got to the place in the Cinco Pasos Hacia La Vida tract where there is a prayer of confession and a commitment of faith in what God – as God the Son, did on a cross for each guy, gal and kid who has been specially elected by God – as God the Father, to be His adopted kids, the guy said yes to praying that prayer. When your grandpaa told Miguel – who is one of the leaders of the Chochís Christ-follower fellowship of guys and gals what happened when he read the Cinco Pasos Hacia La Vida tract with this guy and who the guy was, Miguel told your grandpaa that the guy was very Catholic. Then Miguel told your grandpaa that one of the guy’s sons had recently died. The sad death of a family member is sometimes what is in the premeditated omnipotent plan that God – as God the Father, has for another family member who then – with the help of the feet of guys like your grandpaa, is led by God – as God the Spirit, to the grace/faith door that God – as God the Father, has opened for him or her to go through to receive the gifts of forgiveness and eternal life from God – as God the Father, as he or she is passing through the grace/faith door.
How do you think that Amos felt when the Israelite people group’s guys and gals – God’s specially chosen guys and gals, stubbornly refused to listen to the words that God gave him to tell them as a warning? Amos sounds really frustrated in Amos 4 as he uses the words that God gave him to tell His specially chosen guys and gals who lived in the northern part of the land that He had told His specially chosen guys and gals that they would always have to live in as their very own land if . . . to lambaste the Israelite people group’s guys and gals about how they were living their lives. Instead of doing what God expected them to do, God’s specially chosen guys and gals were worshipping homemade idol gods that had been made from pieces of wood, chunks of stone and hunks of metal. God – through Amos, called His specially chosen guys and gals cows. God – through Amos, accused His specially chosen guys and gals of not caring for the poor and the needy guys, gals and kids. Because God could clearly see that His specially chosen guys and gals were not doing what He was expecting them to do, God – through Amos, told them that He no longer had any other choice but to take away their food supply by holding back His rain supply from their fields so that their crops would not grow, to send blight, mildew and locusts to their gardens, vineyards and fig and olive trees, to have their young guys killed with swords, to cause an awful stink from all the dead bodies among them and to have them led away as captive slaves with a fishhook through either their lips or through their nose. God had Amos for about ten years persistently tell His specially chosen guys and gals what He would do to them if . . . in God’s premeditated omnipotent plan, God knew that His specially chosen guys and gals would not do what He was asking them to do because He – in His premeditated omnipotent plan, knew that His specially chosen guys and gals would have a very warranted punishment lead them to worship Him again one day.
Verse 13 is the answer to why God does the inexplicable things that He does. “He who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals his thoughts to man, he who turns dawn to darkness, and treads the high places of the earth—the LORD God Almighty is his name.” When you find yourselves questioning why sad, awful things happen, remember that everything that takes place is in God’s premeditated omnipotent plan that He has designed for you. Your grandpaa hopes that you begin each day looking forward to the life lessons that God has for you for that day.
Amos 4 (422)