Famine—of the Word of God! (1/13/22)
When we turn away from God, especially as a culture, God will send warnings. When we fail to return to him, he sends judgments, such as war, economic problems, and plagues. When we still fail to repent, he sends a famine of the Word of God. This is the message of the prophet Amos and it is pertinent to our time. Amos was a fig farmer and a reluctant prophet, yet God used him to deliver his message to the people of Israel.
Amos also mentions the complacency of the people. How many believers have become complacent in recent years, enjoying the distractions of the world? God warned the complacent in Israel that “your feasting and lounging will end.” That is in Amos 6:7. Amos also warned that God abhors the pride and arrogance of people. We have certainly seen that as many boasts of human pride and arrogance have failed to produce results in the last couple years. Can we learn anything from the current state of affairs?
When Israel failed to respond to God’s warnings and judgments, God sent a famine—a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Here are the words of Amos:
“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.” Amos 8:11, 12
When I hear that “sea to sea”, I think New York to California. The cultures of those two areas certainly represent a famine of God’s truth and the arrogance of human leaders through large sections of our culture. Many parts of our nation ignore and defy God’s word: academia, media, Hollywood, social media and politics.
Yet, in the midst of famine we can still find spiritual food. We can be thankful for the Bible and for Christian media that is still on the air. We can be thankful that we can still point our neighbors to spiritual nourishment and living water in Jesus. Seek the Lord while he may be found! We can be thankful for thousands of local congregations and millions of believers across this land. We may not have the megaphone of culture right now, but we can hold out hope for the people around us in our daily lives. Let us live in such a way that the light of Christ will shine through us in the midst of cultural confusion and darkness.
Lord, thank you that your word is still available to us. We realize that in some cultures it is not. Help us to be lights in our world and point hungry people to The Light. Thank you that there are still more of us out there than we might think. Help us to see through the fog of propaganda and a godless media around us. We can still post Scriptures on social media. But we pray for repentance for the society in general. We have lost our roots and the truths that western civilization was founded upon.
Let us be living Bibles that folks around us can read! Let those who are weary look to the Lord. May you bring people to you in miraculous ways in our day! And help believers in spiritual deserts around the world be a light also that transforms many lives.
Praise you that your Word is alive, it is living and active and sharper than a two edged sword. May Jesus be lifted up, his cross pointing the way through dark and ominous clouds. May there be many around us who look to him for truth and healing. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.