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Any casual observer of the state of this earth and of the men and women who inhabit it realizes that we are in terrible shape. Sin is rampant. We have “turned everyone to his own way” … and we’ve been doing it since the Garden.

There is only one remedy. God uses His prophet, Amos, to announce it to His wayward people, Israel. It is simple and can be described in four words.

For the Lord says to the house of Israel: Seek me and live! (Amos 5:4)

THE TURN

Israel had followed every false god, just as all of us have. God had sent His judgments to call them to come back to Him, to look to Him. But five times in the previous chapter, God describes their response:

“… yet you did not return to me.” (Amos 4:6,8,9,10,11)

In spite of Israel’s obvious sins and God’s obvious instructions, they simply would not return.

THE REMEDY

… is simple. All they had to do was to turn and seek the Lord. This implies an awareness that they had taken a terrible misdirection and were willing to turn in a new direction. They must return to the Lord and, if they would, His promise was (and is) stunning, particularly in light of the magnitude of their sin. They must seek Him.

This is always the great remedy. We must turn and seek the Lord. If you are sensing a distance from God, a lack of the conscious awareness of His presence, of loss of the warmth and intimacy in your relationship with Him, a loss of power in your spiritual walk … you must make a turn. You have been deluded into seeking other things. Now you must turn and seek the Lord. If you will seek Him, “He will let you find Him if you search with all your heart.”

“I love those who love me, and those who diligently seek me will find me. (Proverbs 8:17)

Be like the Psalmist who made this declaration:

When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “Your face, O Lord, I shall seek.” (Psalm 27:8)

For He who seeks and finds the Lord finds life—real, abundant life—that is found nowhere else but in Him.

Copyright © 2025 by Bill Elliff @ billelliff.org. No part of this article may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from Lifeword.org