Encouragement

Rebuke Repeated

by John Puckett 
11/07/25
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Rebuke Repetition

Through the prophet Amos, God reprimanded the Israelites five times for their failure to respond to his chastening. They experienced loads of troubles but refused to acknowledge that they were God rebuking them for their sin. It seemed as if nothing would make them repent and feel their need of Him.

“Also I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities.
And lack of bread in all your places;
Yet you have not returned to me,” says the Lord.
Amos 4:6

So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water,
But they were not satisfied;
Yet you have not returned to me,” says the Lord. Amos 4:8

“I blasted you with blight and mildew.
When your gardens increased,
Your vineyards,
Your fig trees,
And your olive trees,
The locust devoured them;
Yet you have not returned to me,” says the Lord. Amos 4:9

“I sent among you a plague after the manner of Egypt;
Your young men I killed with a sword,
Along with your captive horses;
I made the stench of your camps come up into your nostrils;
Yet you have not returned to me,” says the Lord. Amos 4:10

“I overthrew some of you,
As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
And you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning;
Yet you have not returned to me,” says the Lord.” Amos 4:11

Yet you have not returned to me!

How many times have I failed to recognize and respond to my Lord challenging me about my wrong behaviour? My failure to return to him?

“Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11