"I also withheld rain from you… Yet you have not returned to Me," Says the LORD" (v7)
Five times God tells of trials and tribulations He has laid upon His people and then laments…"Yet you have not returned to Me." We often see the loaves and the fishes as a reflection of God's grace and His goodness, and they are. However we many times do not consider that "God also hath sat the one over against the other" (Eccl 7:14)
Isaiah 26:9b says, "... for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." and remember Hosea 5:15b "...in their affliction they will seek me early." Sometimes our trials are a reflection of God's goodness and mercy because they bring us back to Him.
When the Israelites went into captivity in Egypt they were nomadic herdsman and farmers. However when they came out of bondage they had "such things as they required." It was in the years of captivity they acquired the skills and trades a nation required.
If the rain has been withheld from you, or there is mildew in your garden, or you don't have any bread to eat, consider you might be in the middle of the goodness and grace of our Lord – return to Him.
Jason Ouellette
