Famine

Amos 8:11 "'Behold, the days are coming', says the Lord God, 'That I will send a famine on the land. Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord.'"

Famine. The thought of it sends chills. We have so much in this country. We can go to the grocery store and buy anything that we could ever think or imagine. If there is ever a thought that the electricity will go out, or that there is going to be financial trouble, or a storm is coming, what do people do? They run to the grocery store and hoard what they can just so they can be ready when food supplies are not able to be trucked in to the local Giant Eagle, Heinens, Aldi's, Marcs, Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Save-a-Lot, Sams, Costco, BJ's, etc. We are so used to having our stomachs filled we go crazy if we think we may have to miss a meal or two.

Now, compare this with the availability of food in places like the Sahel region of Africa. No rain, no growth, no growth, no food, no food, real hunger, real thirst, desperation, illness, starvation, death. All because of a lack of rain.

Amos was warning the people of Israel about famine as well. But this was not a water/food famine. This was worse. This was a famine for God's word. People wanted to hear it, but God withdrew it. People looked for the word of the Lord, but they could not find it. It was scarce. It was unavailable. As a result, spiritual starvation. Physical starvation is horrible. Spiritual starvation is eternally deadly and Amos told the people that this is what they were going to suffer because they intentionally ignored the word of God when it was available. (v5,6) They wanted to do what they wanted to do. They didn't care about what God said, they were going take advantage of the poor, cheat, and steal. They were going to make money any way that they could even though they knew what God wanted…and God said: "Since you don't want any part of Me, you won't have any part of Me" and the famine for His words began.

Talk about sending chills. Just imagine if God said that to us now. "You don't want to hear My Word, you don't want to obey My Word so, I am going to withhold My Word." The result would be darkness. The result would be no hope. The result would be no life. The result would be no answers, no promises, no direction…no God. Frankly, God could easily say this to the world today. Then when we were desperate to hear His voice there would be silence.

"Oh God…help us to always listen, to always hear, to always heed and obey."