Walking With God - Part 4 — Phil Beach Jr.

Before the Lord. Father, we thank you so much for your faithfulness. We thank you so much, Lord, for your love and your mercy and your kindness and your grace. We pray this morning, Lord, that you would grant to us a good measure of the Holy Spirit that the eyes of our heart might be flooded with light, enabling us to see beyond natural sight.

Help us, Lord, to see. Jesus, help us to see, Lord, with eyes that have been anointed with eye sap, Lord. Help us to see, Lord, what is eternal and not temporary, what is invisible and not visible, what is eternal in the heavens and not transitory on earth.

Help us, O God, we pray, to see. And as we see, Lord, help us, Lord, to be transformed into your holy image, we pray, Father. For Jesus' sake, amen. I'd like for you, if you would, to turn your Bibles to Daniel chapter 4.

Would you please hand me that jar? Daniel chapter 4, please. Walking with God, part 4. Walking with God, part 4. Now, last week we learned that when we walk with God, God has a goal in view. When He calls you and me to walk with Him, He has a goal.

He has an end in view. We must not lose sight of that goal. As we learned last week, walking with God, in James chapter 5, we learned verse number 11. You don't have to turn there, but I'm going to read it.

Patience in Suffering and the Purpose of Trials

James chapter 5, verse number 11. You know how we call those blessed or happy, who were steadfast, who endured. Now, if we go to the verse before, do not complain, brethren, against one another, that you may not be judged.

Look, the judge is standing at the very door. As an example of suffering and ill treatment together with patience, brethren, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as His messengers. And so in context, it's talking about being patient in suffering, being patient in deflection, being patient in difficulty.

The reason we are called to be patient is because God has something in view. And we have to be patient. Verse number 7, we're digressing instead of progressing here. Verse number 7, so be patient, brethren.

Be patient. Patience is very, very important in walking with God. Because without patience, we fail to recognize the purpose in deflection, the purpose in suffering, and the purpose in trouble. This is just a brief review of last week.

So be patient, brethren, as you wait till the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits expectantly for the precious harvest from the land. See how he keeps up his patience over it until it receives the early and the latter rains.

So you must also be patient. Establish your hearts. Strengthen and confirm them in the final certainty. For the coming of the Lord is very near. Do not complain. Now, last week we learned that in the beginning of Job's life, he was involved in a religion.

He was devoted to that religion. And once God initiated the battle, remember, it was the Lord who initiated the battle with Job. It wasn't Satan. When the sons of God or the angels of God came before the Lord, the Bible says the devil also came.

Satan also came before the Lord. And the Lord asked him a question. Where have you come from? What are you doing? And the enemy said, I've come to and fro throughout all the earth. And God said, God said, have you considered My servant Job?

Job’s Suffering and God’s Purpose

As we learned last week, it was God who picked the fight. It wasn't the devil. And the reason why, it's not because God is cruel. It's not because God is unjust. It's not because God delights to see us suffer or see us hurt or see us weeping or see us in darkness or see us in pain.

But as we learned in James 5, verse 11, you know how we call those blessed who were steadfast and endured. And in context, he's talking about the prophets who went through horrendous suffering. And Job in particular, as we'll see, was mentioned here.

Job learned patience through his suffering. And it says here, you have heard of the endurance or the patience of Job. It's referring to the time period in Job's life in chapter 1 when Job was engaged in his religion.

And then God initiated a battle with him. And Job went through a series of experiences that resulted in the ultimate blessing, the double blessing of Job. The patience of Job. Why? Why did Job need to be patient?

Because God had a purpose in what he was going through. Whatever you're going through, whatever difficulty, whatever affliction, whatever trial, whatever pain, God has a purpose, beloved. He has a purpose.

And His purpose is a good purpose. It's a lovely purpose. And His purpose, let's read this. Let's read what the Scripture says. You have heard of the patience of Job and you have seen the Lord's end. Now listen, there's two things that we have to see in walking with God.

Number one, walking with God requires patience during times of affliction and times of testing. Walking with God requires patience in times of testing and affliction and trial and disappointment and setback and heartache and dashed hopes.

And when God changes our plans, we're moving in this direction and all of a sudden, we're moving in a direction that we didn't anticipate. This will happen to each and every one of us. Every one of us will experience this.

Even you young people, listen to the Holy Spirit speak. How many times you have your heart set on something and mom and dad say no. Mom and dad say no, you can't do that. And your will is crossed and your plans are dashed.

You need patience during that time because God has a reason why He's frustrating your plans. God has a reason why He's not letting you do what you want to do. And so during these times, we have to pray, oh dear Lord, help me to see Jesus.

Help the eyes of my heart to get over the wound, to get over the pain. Human nature, apart from grace, has a tendency when it's hurt and wounded. And see if this is not true in your experience. Human nature has a tendency when it's hurt and wounded.

It has a tendency to camp on the wound and to camp on the hurt and to lose sight of everything else. And that's when bitterness can begin to set in and anger and complaining and the book of James is full of admonitions to these believers not to complain, not to speak evil, not to grumble, but to come to the Lord and to pray for the patience of Christ to be developed in our life.

God has an end in view. And we learned last week that God's glorious end is always one thing and one thing alone. Hallelujah to God. God's end is always one thing. And that is to give us a greater capacity to see the glory of His Son.

To see the glory of His Son. The lovely One. The righteous One. The Holy One. The One in Whom God said, I am fully satisfied and pleased. Remember that in Matthew 3 at the baptism? The dove descended upon the sun and a voice from heaven came down.

And brothers and sisters, this voice was never spoken to any other human being. Never. Though men in the past pleased God, and though men in the past obtained pleasure by faith in God, Hebrews 11, there's only one Man who ever fully satisfied the heart of God.

And His name is Emmanuel. God with us. And you shall call His name Jesus. It's that Man that God spoke from heaven and said this is My beloved Son in Whom I am well pleased. And so, God's end in Job, as Job went through all these different stages where he was focused on his religion, Job's relationship was connected to his religion more than it was his God.

Job's relationship was connected more to his religion than to his God. And this is something that God has to continuously guard us against. He has called us to fellowship with Himself. And our fellowship and our communion and our preoccupation must remain with God.

Knowing God. Knowing Christ. Walking with Him. Delighting in Him. And mirroring His moral perfections. God is a very jealous God. And He is constantly seeking to keep us disentangled from the affairs of life.

From the affairs of our Christian life. Disentangled. Disentangled. We have such a tendency to be entangled. But God loves us too much to let us be entangled. He has a Son who is entirely disentangled from anything that distracts.

And that Son is at His right hand. That is the Son in Whom He is well pleased. And that is the prototype. That is the pattern to which we are being conformed when we talk about spiritual maturity and growing up in Christ.

It must never turn into a gaze at what we do as a test of spiritual maturity. Spiritual maturity is captured in Christ Himself. It is who He is. What He is in His moral perfections. And so God's end in Job's trial was to take Job, who was devoted to his religion.

He forgot that his religion was intended not as a means to be righteous before God when God instituted the laws of offering lambs and sheep and pigeons and spilling the blood of goats. It was never intended.

Listen carefully. It was never intended to be the means by which a man or woman would be righteous before God. Engaging in that religion was never a means to become righteous. It was a reminder. The religion that God instituted that was being practiced by Job, and actually it began all the way in the beginning when Cain and Abel, remember?

Faith, Sacrifice, and Righteousness

Abel offered up the firstborn of his flock and Cain offered up the fruit of the ground and God accepted Abel and rejected Cain. Why? Because Cain was less righteous and Abel was more righteous? Absolutely not.

Cain was not a worse sinner than Abel. That is not why God accepted Abel. It's not who's the better and who's the worse sinner. That's works. That's human works. That's weighing my good works and my bad works.

God accepted Abel according to Hebrews 11, verse 3 because Abel reminded God by his sacrifice that his faith was in the righteousness of another, even the Son of God. And he came to God on the basis and on the merits of another.

But Cain's sacrifice had the smell of human effort. It had the smell of human works. It had the smell of human effort. It had the smell of, look how good I am. I'm going to produce the best I can and offer it to God.

God says, I can't accept you if you produce the best you can because the best you can produce is not good enough. There's only one righteousness that God can accept and that is the righteousness of His Son.

And so all of the mystery of this suffering that Job went through was intended by God and it was governed by purpose. The purpose of God in Job's suffering and the purpose of God in your suffering and my suffering is to bring us through these transitional stages disentangling us from our religion.

And it might not be our religion. It can be anything. Anything we're entangled in. It can even be good and wholesome things. It's not necessarily disentangling us from horrible, sinful things, but it's disentangling us from anything that has gotten too big in our life.

Anything that has gotten too important. Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord, and thou shalt worship Him with all your heart, soul, mind, strength, and soul. Are you being disentangled this morning?

Is God disentangling you? Don't despair. When we are entangled in something, whether it's our Christian religion, whether it's some preoccupation with a dream, a hope, whatever it is, our relationship is no longer with God, but it's with the thing we're entangled in.

Young people, God loves you too much to let you become entangled. And so in His wisdom and in His love and in His divine providence, He's going to work in your life to prevent you to become so entangled in things and passions and desires which have their place.

But oh, how we need to guard against desire. How we need to guard against passion. How we need to guard against aspiration and ambition. God will keep us from becoming so entangled in them that we lose sight of Him.

This is what happened with Job. During this time when God was initiating the battle, Job was being disentangled from his religion, his relationship was with the thing he was entangled in, and Job's reality was in that.

That was his reality. That's the world that he lived in. He became disconnected to the reason why God called him to fellowship with Him. Remember, the highest good that can be given to a human being is not something, it's not a physical blessing.

The highest good that God can give you is a revelation of Himself. There's nothing greater. It is Himself. And 30 years after Paul had met the man in glory in Acts 9, in Philippians 3, what was Paul after?

Things? Absolutely not. A ministry? Absolutely not. Paul was that I might know Him. Paul was continuously obsessed with this insatiable passion to know Christ, to experience Christ, to become one with Christ, to be disentangled from Saul of Tarsus, to be disentangled with that religious man, that man that had passion, that man that had pride, that man that had, oh, so much desire to make so much of himself.

Paul knew his greatest enemy was himself. He knew it. And therefore, he understood the only remedy, the only way he could be rescued from himself was by daily receiving the life of another. The Lord Jesus Christ.

Seeing the Redeemer and the Glory of Christ

And so here we are. God is doing something. God's end in Job. What's God's end? We have here a manhood. God's end in Job was Job progressively getting a revelation of a new, a different kind of man. A different kind of humanity.

Brothers and sisters, God's end is always that we might see the man in glory and desire him above what? Silver and gold. Desire him above anything else. So, here Job, when he was disentangled from his religion, disentangled from the relationship and the reality that he had become involved in with that religion, Job began to experience a revival.

And the first evidences of Job experiencing the revival is when he began to make the confession, I know that my Redeemer liveth. Before that statement, Job was so busy defending his integrity. He was so busy defending why this and why that, O God, why this and why that, O God.

Trying to respond to the accusations and suggestions of his friend. But then all of a sudden, the eyes of his heart were opened and Job began to take his eyes off of Job and off his friends, and he made this incredible confession, I know that my Redeemer liveth.

God's end was beginning to be realized. Job's eyes were off his religion. They were off his righteousness. They were off his integrity. They were off his innocence, his supposed innocence. They were off the ideas of this isn't fair, God.

How can You let this happen? And I've been such a good Christian. All of that stuff began to fade as Job began to place his faith and hope not in himself or in what he did, but he placed it in a living Redeemer.

That's God's end. God's end is to emancipate us from the captivity of our self so that we can see Christ and claim He is our hope and He is our righteousness and He is all my joy and He is the reason why I'm living.

It's Christ. So Job's revival resulted in a renewed vision. And this vision, from that statement, I believe it's in Job 19, progressed all the way through until the very end, which is in Job 42. Job 42, "...then Job answered the Lord.".

God began to speak to Job in chapters 38 -41. And amazingly, in chapter 41, God spends an entire chapter talking about what most theologians believe to be a crocodile or something of an ancient reptile that might even be extinct at this time.

It was a feared creature that no man could tame, that no man could kill. And God was saying to Job, all mankind fears this creature. All mankind runs when this creature opens its mouth. Runs when this creature reveals its strength.

Not a man will speak against this creature. Not a man will try and wrestle with this creature. And then God says in Job 41, then why do you, Job, and others, contend with Me? Because I am the Creator of this creature.

And if you fear this creature, and if you fear the strength of this creature, and you won't dare take on this creature, why do you take Me on? Why do you contend with Me? Why do you claim innocence before Me when I say you're guilty?

Why do you claim your own righteousness before Me when I say there's none righteous? Why do you hold on to your integrity when I say none has integrity but My Son? That was the beginning of the end. That was the beginning of the renewed vision.

And this is the discourse that God had in Job 41. Can you imagine God coming to us and saying these things? Can you imagine God coming to you and giving you visions of the crocodile or any kind of reptile that is so fierce and so strong that no man could touch it?

The teeth, the jaws, the strength of it. And say you fear that crocodile and you wouldn't dare challenge it, but yet here you are pointing your finger at Me, and I created that. I'm much greater than that.

Talk about humbling us and giving us perspective. It's in this context as God gives the final death blow to Job and his righteousness and claiming innocence and holding on to his integrity. A death blow to a certain kind of humanity.

A sinful humanity that God says can never please Me. A sinful humanity that God says can never, ever produce enough righteousness to be accepted. Have we gotten to that place yet where we've seen there's no good thing that dwells in us?

Now watch Job's end here. Watch this. Then Job answered and said, I know. Intimate knowledge. Listen, this word means intimate knowledge resulting in a submission to that knowledge. I know that You can do everything.

Now listen here. Most of us would say, oh, I already believe that. I know God can do anything. But what was Job really saying here? Job no longer was making general statements. Job was saying here, I know now, God, that You can do anything including what You want to me.

It's easy for us to make general statements about God can do anything out there. But what about when it comes knocking at our door? God let Job's children be taken from him. God let Job's wealth be taken from him.

God let Job's reputation be taken from him. God let everything that Job had be taken from him. And in turn, Job got boils that hurt so bad he couldn't sleep at night. But now Job says, God, I know now You can do anything.

Verse 5, I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear. All of this hearing by the hearing of the ear, Job heard of Him when Job was entangled in his religion, when Job's relationship was entangled in his religion, when Job's reality was entangled.

But a transition began to happen. When Job began to experience revival by seeing his Redeemer and a renewed vision, something began to happen. And he went from hearing by the ear, but now my eye sees You.

He went from head knowledge to heart revelation. And when he went from head knowledge to heart revelation, this is the response. Verse 6, Wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes. Brothers and sisters, please listen.

God's end in Job's suffering was that he would be brought to a renewed vision that enabled him to see his Redeemer, to see his moral perfections, and to abhor himself. God's end is to give us a vision of the man Jesus Christ and to see in Him all that God has ever been pleased with and to see in Him what we desperately need to please God.

It's not me trying to please God in my own effort. It's the power and transforming grace and mercy of God reproducing by the power of regeneration the very moral perfections of God Himself in His Son in my life.

It is not imitation. It is not me trying by my own human effort to be like Christ. But it is God reproducing by the power of His Spirit the moral perfections and beauties that are inherent in His Son into me.

Christianity as Christ’s Life in the Believer

Away with Christian religion. Away with it! God didn't come to start a religion called Christianity. He came to reveal a Son in whom He is well pleased. He came to reveal a righteousness not according to the law, but according to faith in Jesus Christ.

He came to reveal a life, not the Christian trying to live a good Christian life, but the life of the Son of God. It is no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me. Young people, listen. A time will come in your life and older people, a time will come in our lives when we will recognize more and more and more that it is not possible to live the Christian life in the strength of human might and power.

There is only one Man who has ever lived the Christian life successfully, and His name is Jesus Christ. And it is only through union with Him and by faith drawing and receiving of His life moment by moment that we can live the Christian life.

It is Christ living in me, empowering me, and strengthening me that gives me the ability to live the Christian life. And that's God's end in Job. That's God's end in all the suffering that all of His dear children have gone through.

He wants us to see that the greatest blessing we could ever receive is a revelation of His Son, but not just objectively. Paul said God revealed His Son first to him, and then how? In him. Galatians 1.

Paul was in travail. Galatians 4. That Christ might be formed where? In the church. Paul wanted the Galatians to come to spiritual maturity, but he wasn't calling them to work more, get busier, get involved in more things.

Paul connected spiritual maturity to the full... The Greek is actually that Christ might fully be formed in you. Paul connected spiritual maturity entirely to the outworking of the moral perfections of Jesus Christ in the church, plus nothing.

And so, the end in Job's life was revealing the manhood of Christ. It's when Job made the confession, I abhor myself. God, I give up. I want You. I want Your Son. That God blessed him, and he received double what he had before.

And as we learned last week, the double blessing, it's not about things. The double blessing is the blessing of the firstborn. The double blessing is Ephesians 1, verse number 3. Blessed be God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.

Oh, how God wants to open up the eyes of our heart, enabling us to see the blessing not of grasping for things, not of looking for titles in this world, not in being able to boast of what we have or who we are or what we think we are, but the blessing of Christ and knowing Him.

I'm wondering how many of us go to bed at night with tears rolling down our eyes because we're so hungry for Jesus. We're so hungry for Him. We're so hungry for Him. There's nothing in this life, there's nothing that can satisfy, Lord, I need You.

Lord, I need You. Lord, there's no hope, there's no help on earth. Lord, I need You. And so, the end of Job was a revelation of a righteousness, a holiness, and a life apart from Him in His Redeemer. It was a preview of the revelation of God's righteousness in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christianity Is More Than Religion

And so, my question this morning is what is Christianity? Walking with God, part 4. What is Christianity? Is Christianity reforming the old life? Is Christianity embracing moral principles? Is Christianity inheriting your parents' religion?

Well, my mom and dad are Christians, so I'm a Christian. Is that what Christianity is? Is Christianity becoming a member of a church and tithing and being involved in all kinds of activities? Is Christianity trying to live a good life?

Is Christianity following the teachings of Jesus Christ? To all of these questions, an emphatic no, no, no. That is not the essential meaning of what Christianity is. Never. Never. Let's turn our Bibles to Deuteronomy 6.

And we'll see a preview in the Old Testament of God's cry, God's heart cry. Deuteronomy 5. God gives the Ten Commandments to the nation of Israel. And the reason why God gave the Ten Commandments to the nation of Israel?

Because God was trying to show Israel what He was like and what He was not like. Remember, God wanted to reveal a self-revelation of Himself to the nation of Israel. And that's what made Israel distinct from all the other nations of the earth.

All the other nations of the earth served all manner of gods, and God said, I want to give a revelation of Myself. And so the Ten Commandments reveal what God is like. There's no uncleanness in Him. There's no darkness in Him.

And after He gives the Ten Commandments, chapter 5, verse 27, go near and hear all that the Lord our God shall say and speak unto us, all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee, and we will hear it and do it.

And the Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke unto Me, and the Lord said unto Me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people, which they have spoken unto thee. Now what's He talking about?

They were saying, oh, listen, Moses, just get all the words of the Lord and listen to all He wants us to do and tell us and we'll do it. We'll do it. We'll do whatever God wants. Just tell us. God said, I heard what they said, verse 28, which they have spoken unto thee.

They have well said all that they have spoken. And verse number 29, then God bursts out. Oh, that there were such a heart in them that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it might be well with them and with their children forever.

Oh, that there were such a heart in them to do what they said they were going to do. Amos. Now this is the same people that of course, it's not the identical people, it's their children. A couple generations down, these people, oh God, oh Moses, we've seen the Lord appear.

We saw the fire. We saw the mountains shake. We heard His voice. Oh, how we feared! They said, listen Moses, you just tell us everything that we need to do and by golly, we're going to do it. We've got to get delivered from that mentality.

Because that mentality will set us up to fail over and over again. Because the focus of that mentality is the focus of Job's beginning. The beginning of his life. That's not where our hope is and our help.

Israel’s Religious Formalism and Social Injustice

Amos 4. Amos 4. Come to Bethel. Now, the prophet is speaking to the northern kingdom of Israel. And they were experiencing at this time the greatest prosperity that they had ever known since the days of Solomon.

Intense prosperity. Economic, political, unprecedented prosperity hadn't been seen in the nation since the days of Israel. And God raises up this shepherd called Amos to denounce Israel's severe backsliding and severe falling away from loving the Lord with all their heart.

They were committing all manner of social injustices. Now, this is a people who back in Deuteronomy 5, their grandparents or their great-grandparents were saying this, just tell us, Moses, what you want us to do and we'll do it.

Moses had just told them the Ten Commandments. Moses had just said to them, God is one God. You shall not serve any other god. You should honor your father and your mother. You shall not commit any form of immorality.

You shall not steal. You shall not covet. You shall not murder. You shall not lie. You shall not bear false testimony. You cannot walk like the other nations walk. You've got to be like me. I am holy.

You can't commit adultery because that kind of act does not live in me. You can't lie because I am a God of truth. And now, a few generations down the road, God is raising up a prophet called Amos and He's rebuking them because this nation had gone crazy.

They were committing all kinds of social injustices. They were robbing the poor. They were taking advantage of weak and needy people so they can stuff themselves with prosperity and walk around with haughtiness and pride.

They were pleasure seekers. They were constantly, constantly grasping for more and more and more so they can indulge their own sinful desires. They didn't understand that when God prospered them, it was not so they can hoard more to themselves, but that they can be a blessing to others.

They lost sight of these things. Amos condemned them because they had begun to commit social injustices. They were pleasure seeking money mongers. Self-indulgent, gross idolatry. They were serving the gods of the nations that God told them not to serve.

What about these people who said to Moses, just tell us what you want us to do, Moses, and we'll do it, Joe. Just tell us, Lord, what happened? What happened? Why did they fail? Why did they fail? And why do we fail so often when we say to the Lord, just let me know what You want, Lord, and I'll do it.

And down the road, we take a survey six months later, a year later, and the very thing we've said to the Lord we do, we end up not doing. We say, Lord, I won't serve the gods of this world. And then we end up going to bed at night with our thoughts on what?

On the Lord? No! On the gods of this world. We say, Lord, I'll never cheat. I'll never lie. Then when we get into a pinch, we start thinking about how we can get out of it. And it's okay if it's a little dishonest because everyone else is doing it.

Everyone else is doing it. We're no different. We're no different. But I would be derelict of my duty if in the midst of this, I wouldn't say, there's hope. There's hope. But the hope does not lie in the image you see when you look in the mirror.

That's what God is after. It's not in your religion. It's not in your relationship with that religion. And it's not in your present reality. You're not going to find hope in your reality. You're not going to find it no matter what you do.

You're not going to find hope. But there's hope. And so God is condemning these people because of the gross immorality. God even said that the sins of the northern Israel were greater than the nations that were surrounding them.

Can you imagine that? How brokenhearted God was? Now watch this. Watch this. Amos 4. Come to Bethel where there was a golden calf. That's why he was saying come to Bethel. There's a golden calf there.

There's an idolatry and transgress. At Gilgal, there were other shrines to other gods that had been erected. Multiply transgression and bring your sacrifices. And offer by the burning a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened and proclaim and publish freewill offerings.

For this you like to do, O children of Israel. Oh my God, what is God saying to Israel? Israel, you know what you like to do? You like to maintain an outward religion. You like to maintain an outward religion where you go to Bethel and you go to Gilgal and you offer offerings to Me.

But it's tainted with leaven. God's saying that whole outward religion I want nothing to do with. It's an abomination to Me. Verse 6,. And I will also give you cleanness of teeth. Cleanness of teeth is a metaphor and that represented famine.

God was saying I'm going to send a famine. Just look at the heart of God here. You're not looking at a God that is necessarily angry as much as He is brokenhearted. This is the people that cried out to Moses and said I'll do it, Moses, whatever you say.

And here's what God's saying. I'll send you a famine, a lack of bread in all your places. What does it say? Yet you did not return to Me, says the Lord. Number 2,. And I will withhold the rain. So we see famine and now we see what?

Drought. I'll withhold the rain. Why is God doing this? He's trying to get them to come back. He's trying to get them to remember what their grandfathers said at the mount. Oh, just tell us what to do, God, Moses, and we'll do it.

We'll please You, God. And here, they're not doing it. Something's wrong. I'll send drought for three months to the harvest. And I caused it to rain upon one city and caused it not to rain upon another.

One piece of ground was rained upon and another was not. And so the people of two or three cities wandered and staggered without water. They were not satisfied. And yet, they did not return to the Lord.

God says, and I will smite you with blight from the poisons of the east wind. And with mildew. And I laid waste the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees. Yet, you did not return to Me, says the Lord.