Easing Suffering

As I was taking my walk this morning I was reading the book The Prophet by Francine Rivers.  It is a novella about the life of the prophet Amos of Scripture.  An excerpt on page 73 reads thusly:
"Jeroboam's  (false king of Israel during Amos' time) cunning plan worked. Men wanted ease, after all, not hard work.  Ah, yes, why not worship idols?  A man would have immediate pleasure with temple prostitutes.  Sin would be approved.  No one need consider what is right or wrong.  Live for yourselves.  Go ahead: lie, cheat, steal - everyone is doing it - as long as you give the king his share of the offerings!  Why serve a holy God who demanded you follow the Law, when other gods would allow you to wallow in self-gratification?  People rejected truth and gulped down lies, turning their backs on the loving, merciful God who provided their every need.  Instead, they followed a king who ruled over them as he pleased."
The people of Amos' day did not realize that their sin was bringing about destruction, or at least they turned a blind eye to it..  They had tossed out the Scripture they had been taught in their youth: ...when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them... when your heart is lifted up and you forget the Lord your God. ... you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’... Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods... you shall surely perish. Deut. 8:12-14
"When you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire [sacrificing a child to the Canaanite "god" Moloch for personal gain], or practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who conjures spells, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord, and because of these abominations the Lord your God drives them out... You shall be blameless before the Lord your God...." Deuteronomy 18:9-14
and many more.
They did not stop to realize that God was holding back their destruction out of love for them and the desire to see them turn back to Him and live!!  Instead, when a true prophet came to speak with them, they would throw them in prison, stone them, whatever it took to shut them  up!!  Sound familiar?
Immediately after reading this passage of the book I looked down and saw a nightcrawler struggling 
to get across the road.  I heard a whisper, "rescue the worm."  I replied, "Lord, that worm is not going to live anyway.  He has been drying out too long."  His reply, "No, he may not, but at least you can ease his suffering."  
I cannot tell you the exact conversation we had after that, but I can tell you what He spoke to my heart in words that are easily understood.  AND yes, I picked up the worm and placed him in the nearest yard.
The worm is like us.  It left the safety of the yard it came from to explore.  It allowed its desire to expand its world to place it in peril.  Even though it was rescued, it may turn back to the road.  God's sheep (people) do this all the time.  We want to experiment, test the waters, do our own thing.  The problem is that though many of the things we explore may be good, ie: learning to swim, to read, to cook, etc., many others lead to destruction of not only our lives, but our very souls.  We want ease, immediate pleasure, to not have to think, to live for ourselves....Yes, we are exactly like the Israelites of Amos' day.  We have not learned from their mistakes as we should.  God took out the time to have men write the Bible to warn us, but we (even Christians) do not read it.  We have lovely excuses for not doing so: I have no time, Life is too short, I have too many other responsibilities, I have difficulty reading, I don't like to read, etc.   But if we search our hearts we find the truth: I don't want to.  Simple as that.  Why not?  I might learn something I don't want to know, I have to give up time I want to spend on myself and my desires, and the list goes on, but when it comes right down to it - I don't want to.  The beautiful fact is, if we would read our Bibles faithfully, we would learn not to run to trouble, but to run from it and into our loving Father's arms.
Back to the worm....We cannot save anyone, only God can through the blood of Jesus.  The work is already done on that front.  We can, however, ease suffering in His name, pray for those we minister to, and watch as God uses these times of easing suffering to help them question why we would do such a thing and and allow themselves be drawn into His presence.  So God used a worm to remind me of this - and I needed the reminder.
God loves people so much He gave His Son.  He wants us to minister to their needs in order to ease their suffering, because, unless they repent and turn to Him, this is all the time for comfort they have.
Lord, help us to see our sin, run from it and into Your arms and then take that love and forgiveness into a suffering world to ease their pain so they can get a glimpse of You.  In Jesus' precious name!!