A Burden to God

Amos 2:13-16
13 “Behold, I am weighted down beneath you
As a wagon is weighted down when filled with sheaves.
14 “Flight will perish from the swift,
And the stalwart will not strengthen his power,
Nor the mighty man save his life.
15 “He who grasps the bow will not stand his ground,
The swift of foot will not escape,
Nor will he who rides the horse save his life.
16 “Even the bravest among the warriors will flee naked in that day,” declares the Lord.

Israel had become a burden instead of a joy to God.  Have you ever been around someone who just seems to drain the life out of you?  It takes all of your energy and focus to be nice to them and you look forward to the time you can get away?  This is how God felt about Israel at this point.  Now, in relation to human terms, we know that God wasn’t actually burdened the way we would be: tired, stressed, cranky, tense, etc.  Israel had become so rebellious that God didn’t really want to hang out with them anymore.  We can’t really blame Him, I mean, Israel stopped listening to what He said and pretty much didn’t even acknowledge His existence.  How much would you enjoy spending time with someone who did that to you?

There are consequences to our driving people away from us in this manner.  In the case of our relationship with God, we tend to leave His umbrella of protection and blessing.  This is what He is talking about in verses 14-16.  So often we are disobedient to God but then have the audacity to get angry with Him when things go wrong.  How silly is that?  After the Sandy Hook tragedy, there was a meme floating around on the Internet that showed this sentiment.  If our relationships only consisted of us calling on people when we needed them, we really wouldn’t have any relationships, would we?  The same holds true in our relationship with God.

god in school

God promises to take care of us, to give us victory over our adversaries, and tells us we are set apart from the rest of the world.  Yet we don’t behave as such, we instead go along our merry way and try to use Him as a celestial 911.  We ignore Him for months and then when tragedy strikes we ask Him why He didn’t show up.  This isn’t to say that our relationship with God (or lack thereof) manipulates or changes His plans; He knows how you’re going to behave before you are even born.  My point is that we cannot view our relationship with God to be different than any other relationship in our lives.

How have you been a bad friend to God?

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