Have you ever ordered a "sampler plate" while out to dinner at a restaurant? If it is a sampler plate of appetizers, it might include potato skins, mozzarella sticks, and wings...all of the most popular flavor offerings, but a small (sample!) portion of each, rather than a full order: a sampler plate.
A sampler supper-plate at a German restaurant might include some weiner schnitzel, some bratwurst, some spaetzle, some red cabbage, and a potato pancake. The top dishes on the menu, but in a smaller/sample/taster/preview portion size.
Sampler plates are a great way to get a taste of all the best things that a restaurant offers.
~~~
I feel like this past week I have had a "sampler plate" of God's goodness and promised restoration.
The book of Amos in the Bible speaks of the waywardness of God's people, and it is Amos's call to speak discipline and consequence into God's people because of their sin which has drawn them away from the Lord and His (good) purposes for their lives.
Amos is a heavy book of the Bible. Necessary--yes. Truth-bringing--yes. But heavy and convicting for eight chapters, and even into the ninth (and final) chapter of Amos--yes: it continues with foretold consequences that Israel/God's people will face because of their unfaithfulness to the Lord.
But in the final verses of Amos Chapter 9 (Verses 11 through 15), God (through Amos) changes message-gears from solemn-discipline to promised-restoration. God gives a sampler-plate verses of the love and bounty that He has in store for His faithful ones.
Aaahhh...
Yes, we must refine ourselves and turn from the sinful ways and areas that we have fallen away from the Lord.
But--yes, the Lord will restore His people and bring blessing, bounty, favor and joy to His people.
“In that day I will restore the fallen house of David. I will repair its damaged walls. From the ruins I will rebuild it and restore its former glory.
(12) And Israel will possess what is left of Edom and all the nations I have called to be mine.” The Lord has spoken, and he will do these things.
(13) “The time will come,” says the Lord, “when the grain and grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested. Then the terraced vineyards on the hills of Israel will drip with sweet wine!
(14) I will bring my exiled people of Israel back from distant lands, and they will rebuild their ruined cities and live in them again.
They will plant vineyards and gardens; they will eat their crops and drink their wine.
(15) I will firmly plant them there in their own land. They will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God. ~Amos 9:11-15
I had a "sampler plate" of God's best this past week. These blessings, and this bounty that Amos Chapter 9 speaks of...I had a foretaste and a preview of these.
I celebrated a birthday, and through the love of my husband, my family, and my friends--I got a taste of all the best things that the Lord offers.
Connecting with friends and family over the past few days--my cup overflowed with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).
Some love and kindness came through the mail, and some came through email. Some blessings arrived through flowers and others through airplanes carrying my loved ones from afar.
No one and nothing in this world is perfect, and you and I have both had our share of brokenness and fallen houses with damaged walls. But our God's heart is for our rebuilding and restoring. May we be blessed to experience a sampler plate of God's mercy and grace today.
“In that day I will restore the fallen house of David. I will repair its damaged walls. From the ruins I will rebuild it and restore its former glory. ~Amos 9:11
Family and life are both so special and impactful when God is at the center. We sometimes cannot even keep up with God's grain and grapes in our life! I praise the Lord for a sampler plate of His love and blessings, and may you be blessed to enjoy them too.
(13) “The time will come,” says the Lord, “when the grain and grapes will grow faster than they can be harvested. Then the terraced vineyards on the hills of Israel will drip with sweet wine! ~Amos 9:13
We've all had exile in our lives in one way or another, and we've all had time in exile from the Lord because of our sins against Him. But come back today--first to God, and then to all that God has for us. He brings us back.
(14) I will bring my exiled people of Israel back from distant lands, and they will rebuild their ruined cities and live in them again.
They will plant vineyards and gardens; they will eat their crops and drink their wine.
(15) I will firmly plant them there in their own land. They will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God. ~Amos 9:11-15
~~~
Why do I say that I enjoyed a "sampler plate" of God's goodness this past week? Because all of this and more is in store for God's children in Heaven.
In that day, God will restore the fallen house of David.
He will repair our damaged walls. From our ruins He will rebuild and restore.
(12) ...The Lord has spoken, and he will do these things. (Amos 9:11-12)
If we think there is fullness and bounty when we get to share in time, love, laughs, (and food) with loved ones here on earth...wait until Heaven(!), when we will be blessed to share in the worship of our holy Lord with every Believer who has gone before us. What a complete (not sampler) celebration that will be!!
Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. (12) In a loud voice they were saying: “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!”
(13) Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!” ~Revelation 5:11-13
Even the best moments and times and memories here on earth are but a sampler plate of what the good Lord has in store for us in Heaven.
I have been blessed by an amazing, outstanding, fulfilling, emotionally-overwhelming week with friends and loved ones. But (the Bible promises us) that even these full types of experiences here on earth are but a small/sample/taster/preview portion size of what the Lord has in store for His children one day.
Keep on keeping-on after Him today. Keep seeking the Lord today. Keep living for the Lord today.
...If our house has fallen today, or if our walls are damaged and need repaired...
...Or-- if the time has come when the grain and grapes are growing faster than they can be harvested, and the terraced vineyards on the hills are dripping with sweet wine...
Keep seeking the Lord Jesus Christ today! The hardships will pass and the bountiful harvests are but a sampler plate and a foretaste of what God has in store for us.
However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him— ~I Corinthians 2:9
Blessings,
sarah
https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com
Comments
Post a Comment