Yet you have Not returned to me...

“But I gave you also cleanness of teeth in all your cities and lack of bread in all your places, Yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord. –Amos 4:6

Some times God is just trying to get our attention. It can be hard for us to understand a God who takes away, or withholds. The key is he does so out of love, one reason can be to get our attention. I am reminded of my wife, who when I am not as attentive as I could be says, “Pay attention to me, lets have some quality time.”

I think that is all God is saying, I want to spend time with you I miss you. It is easy for us to go through out our days without consciously thinking about God. Not all examples are as drastic as that in Amos 4, but they are all God saying, “can’t you tell something is missing.”

What this means for our worship

I love this verse because it is food, something so necessary, and is used as an illustration for the bible. God’s word is the bread of life. The best way I know to keep God with me all day, is start with Him. I’ll read the Word and pray, it doesn’t have to be thirty minuets, just five. Then I feel great, having started my day with God. Then through out the day I think about what he taught me that morning.

There is power in someone who can worship, truly worship God through all their mundane daily tasks. There is something special in corporate worship, when we gather together on Sunday mornings. To hear worship rising to God as a sweet aroma, a fragrance of praise, but the whole picture is for us to worship together and apart. One person who lives this way can do much good, an entire congregation that lives this way could change a community, or state. There is no limit to God’s power, especially when we are willing to let him work.