A Devotional Thought From Amos

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:     Amos 8:11

When one thinks of famine and thirst he/she recognizes the terror, agony, and death that such a condition brings. Without food and water life is impossible, and people will be reduced to skeletons grasping at life, literally waiting to die. In this passage God is announcing not a famine of food and water, but of the word of God. In Israel, a nation called into existence by God, maintained by the word of God, there shall be a scarcity of the word of God. The word of God was paramount in their birth as a people, in building the structure of their society, in their revivals of faith and goodness, in their hope for the future.

Imagine, no preachers shall be proclaiming God’s word to the multitudes, no Bible classes will be held in the houses of worship, no personal witnessing of the word or coffee klatch conversations about God's word will take place. The logical extension of this thought is, that instead people will be living with concerns about everything but God’s word, and that will bring about a society that grasps at life through material things, the occult, false religions, etc. because they do not have God’s true word in the Scriptures being set before them. Will it matter? The answer is that Where there is no vision (no revelation of God’s word) the people perish (Proverbs 29:18).

There is a famine, of sorts, in America re: the word of God. It’s not a total blackout, however. There are still many churches preaching God’s word as it is revealed in the Bible though society at large is not giving it much of a hearing while it goes after materialism, false religions, the occult, sexual license, and personal gratification no matter how it affects the nation. There are still t.v. preachers although the society has attached to them the somewhat pejorative title  “televangelists,” and regard them often as objects of ridicule, perhaps, not always undeserved. There are still personal witnesses who, many times, bear the ostracism faced by people who are bold enough to bring Jesus into the conversation. But for many who do not bow to the living God through His Son Jesus there is a virtual famine of the word of God. How long does the saltiness of word filled Christians’ present in our land preserve our nation before America loses what saltiness she has left?

What America needs is a revival of interest in reading, hearing, preaching and teaching, and sharing the Bible, God’s word, in the midst of her entire population.  In ancient days after a period of biblical famine a copy of the word of God (the book of the law) was found in the temple in Jerusalem, read before the king whose heart was moved, and he started a revival that set the nation on an upward path (2 Kings 22 & 23). America needs that! The word of God recognized and followed could restore her to her former place as a blest nation blessing the world.