When I studied the book of Amos,
the prophet, there was one thing that stood out for me. But before
I tell you, I would just quickly tell you who Amos was.
He was a shepherd from the town of
Tekoa in Judah (the southern kingdom). But God had other plans for
him. He gave Amos two visions depicting what was going to happen to
the northern kingdom (Israel) if they didn't repent. He had to
declare God's judgment upon them for deserting Him, for practicing
idolatry and for oppressing the poor. He had to denounce the social
and religious corruption that was taking place. A southerner had to
go and tell the northerners that their time was up.
Now the interesting verse that I
would like to share with you is the following:
Amos 8:11, 12 "The time is surely
coming," says the Sovereign Lord, "when I will send a famine on the
land - not a famine of bread or water, but of hearing the words of
the Lord. People will stagger everywhere from sea to sea, searching
for the word of the Lord, running here and going there, but they
will not find it."
Wow, there will be a famine of the
words of the Lord. It did happen that way for Israel. Merely 35
years later Assyria destroyed the capital city, Samaria, and
conquered Israel. The words of the Lord disappeared. He had warned
them several times, but they would not listen. They had no appetite
for the word of the Lord when the prophets brought it to them, so
God took away even the opportunity to hear His Word.
I think I would rather die than be
cut off from God's words. That for me, would be the worst thing
that can happen to me, as I speak to Him every day.
But I think there are a whole lot
of people today who search for life's problems everywhere except in
God Word. God's Word is freely available (in Western Countries at
least), but people ignore it. They don't run there to find their
answers. They make fun of the Word of God. But we have a duty
to gently guide them back to the true answers in life. We should
gently help them to find the way, because just maybe there will
come a day when God will send a famine of His Words, and not
provide the opportunity to hear His Words anymore.
We as Christians also need to be
careful to search for answers in other places than God's Word. The
horoscopes, the reading of the stars, running from one modern day
prophet to another trying to find answers/predictions for the
future etc. We have God's Word and we need to use it. It is more
than adequate and will provide all the answers that we need.
Thank you God that Your Word has
the answers to all our questions. Thank you that You gave it to us
and for providing us with this life source. Please help us to
understand it better and to apply it to our lives. In Jesus' Name.
Amen