Sitting here looking out on the unseasonal snow and following on from last week's budget where George Osborne as good as admitted he didn't have a clue how to tackle our budget deficit, I was reminded of Amos 4:7-11 where the prophet tells the Israelites how God had sent them a number of "warning shots" to make them amend their ways: "I have withholden the rain from you...I have smitten you with blasting and mildew....I have sent among you the pestilence," and so on, but all to no avail: "And yet have ye not returned unto me saith the Lord."
Although no modern nation can claim that unique relationship which Ancient Israel had with God, this country, along with the USA, has been one of the most favoured, but recently our leaders seem to be determined to jettison our Christian heritage at breakneck speed. Is God sending warning shots across our bows too? I'm, pretty cautious about Biblical paraphrases, but as I think of our country today, I cannot but think of a modern version of these verses in Amos 5:- "I sent you the wettest summer for 100 years followed by the coldest March in 50 years, yet have ye not returned unto me. I sent you rulers who devised a bloated welfare system that has ended up with a mountain of debt to be paid off by future generations, yet have ye not returned unto me. I took away your ancient liberties and handed you over to a foreign bureaucracy in Brussels yet have ye not returned unto me."
The next verse of Amos 5, verse 12, contains a chilling warning: "Prepare to meet thy god, O Israel." The Israelites of the Northern kingdon had passed the point of no return. In 722BC, the Assyrians captured Samaria, their capital, and took many of its people into exile. Worryingly, I can see parallels here too in the shape of militant Islamic Jihadists. I just hope we haven't passed the point of no return. Yesterday evening, our Pastor read Genesis 18, which includes Abraham's great intercessory prayer for the city of Sodom. God promised Abraham that if only 10 righteous men were found living there, the city would be spared. It is the faithful praying few that keep God's hand of judgment away from this country? We certainly need to keep praying, even if the legalisation of gay marriage looks set to go on the statute books. It is all too easy to become discouraged, but God is still on the throne; situations can change dratically. Evil can be reversed. Rulers can heed the "warning shots" and rule righteously. Let us pray that God will "rend the Heavens and come down" - but in revival power that leads to repentance rather than in the fury of His wrath. May God have nercy and pare us from the sort of judgements which Sodom and Samaria experienced.
Although no modern nation can claim that unique relationship which Ancient Israel had with God, this country, along with the USA, has been one of the most favoured, but recently our leaders seem to be determined to jettison our Christian heritage at breakneck speed. Is God sending warning shots across our bows too? I'm, pretty cautious about Biblical paraphrases, but as I think of our country today, I cannot but think of a modern version of these verses in Amos 5:- "I sent you the wettest summer for 100 years followed by the coldest March in 50 years, yet have ye not returned unto me. I sent you rulers who devised a bloated welfare system that has ended up with a mountain of debt to be paid off by future generations, yet have ye not returned unto me. I took away your ancient liberties and handed you over to a foreign bureaucracy in Brussels yet have ye not returned unto me."
The next verse of Amos 5, verse 12, contains a chilling warning: "Prepare to meet thy god, O Israel." The Israelites of the Northern kingdon had passed the point of no return. In 722BC, the Assyrians captured Samaria, their capital, and took many of its people into exile. Worryingly, I can see parallels here too in the shape of militant Islamic Jihadists. I just hope we haven't passed the point of no return. Yesterday evening, our Pastor read Genesis 18, which includes Abraham's great intercessory prayer for the city of Sodom. God promised Abraham that if only 10 righteous men were found living there, the city would be spared. It is the faithful praying few that keep God's hand of judgment away from this country? We certainly need to keep praying, even if the legalisation of gay marriage looks set to go on the statute books. It is all too easy to become discouraged, but God is still on the throne; situations can change dratically. Evil can be reversed. Rulers can heed the "warning shots" and rule righteously. Let us pray that God will "rend the Heavens and come down" - but in revival power that leads to repentance rather than in the fury of His wrath. May God have nercy and pare us from the sort of judgements which Sodom and Samaria experienced.