“And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.” (Amos 4:6)
Not because we will not obey, but because we do not pine after Him, not because only of the evil that resides upon this planet, but because we do not seek His face, save only when we want or believe ourselves to need something. We request from the Lord, yet we do not answer His requests, we move about in this life as if He does not exist, and if He does, as if He is there to serve us.
I believe, though it is only conjecture on my part, that Satan had to add those words, “knowing good and evil” by commandment of the Lord after he said, “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3:5) God creates out of nothing. “(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.” (Romans 4:17) We cannot create out of nothing, neither can our adversary, the one who said, “I will be like the Most High,” (Isaiah 14:14) can only use that which he has been given, that which has already come into existence, as we can.
The closest approximation we have to the Lord in this respect is that we can differentiate between good and evil, yet that line was almost immediately blurred, and remains so. This is why King Solomon prayed that he would be given a “heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad,” (1 Kings 3:9) just as we should. I contend that without that wisdom, that knowledge, we cannot praise and serve the Lord as we should. Isaiah 5:20 proves this statement, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
The fear of the Lord is a reverential honoring of the Lord God and a hatred of evil, and without adherence to this, He will send the famine, the plague and the sword. Not in a way that He likes, so to speak, but in a way that He is accustomed to, the Lord understands that we will disobey, and when done intentionally, it is accepted by those that serve Him that there will be punishment, chastisement if you like. But it is because we stop seeking His face, we stop trusting in Him and begin to worry that He sends not always calm assurance, for that should continuously be a part of our new nature in Christ, but He sends adverse conditions to call us to Himself.
To help us to see that the only safe place is under the shadow of His wings, no matter the circumstances that surround us.
The world sees the Almighty as a vengeful, hard taskmaster who demands subservient sacrifices and respect, we are to see Him as He is, Sovereign. “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” (Romans 9:20) You must consider this truth, all things serve the will of God, all will serve Him, either in heaven or in hell. We have been blessed with a free will, to choose whether we will do that in this life or not, God does not force virtue on anyone, but know this, the decisions that you make in this life will hold consequences in the next, those who have done all they were commanded to do will be seen as unprofitable, and those servants will receive the rewards for unprofitable servants.
The Almighty is allowing much to occur in these days we are living in, much of which is so that those who do not yet acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord will call upon Him as such, much though is so that the faith of those who know Him as the Sovereign Lord of all creation will continue to serve Him as such, no matter the circumstances or the possible consequences to themselves.
We are to trust and obey, with the view of heaven in our sights continuously, out lives were forfeited to Him the moment we got up from our knees at the cross. Famines, plagues and the sword are upon us, evil men have been allowed, by the power of their father Satan, to begin to control a world domination for their own selfish ends the lives of many on this planet. Our responsibility is to serve, to seek the face of God solely for His glory. “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18)
