Famine Amidst Plenty
Amos 8: 11&12
11 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord God, “When I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, But rather for hearing the words of the Lord.
12 “People will stagger from sea to sea And from the north even to the east;
They will go to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, But they will not find it.
About 750 B.C., an obscure farmer and shepherd was called by God to be a prophet. His mission, when he chose to accept it, turned out to be a real Mission: Impossible. He was sent to warn Israel of God's coming judgment if they did not repent. The nation did not heed the call to repent and was eventually conquered by the Assyrian Empire and led away into captivity.
The Prophet was Amos, and he went to the Northern Kingdom, which consisted of 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel, and preached to them about the dangers of not repenting of their many sins. He also gave a strange prophesy, which we see in chapter 8, about an unusual famine – a famine of God’s Word. This comes from willfully turning a “deaf ear” to God’s Word and choosing not to listen. As your heart becomes harder and harder, you cannot hear His words anymore and you find yourself starving (spiritually) in a land filled with God’s Word.
Today in our society, there is a severe famine of God’s Word, and this modern day famine is different in some ways and yet still similar in some ways. The result of this famine will be the eternal damnation of millions and the destruction of our society. The signs are all around us and each year that goes by we see them becoming more and more blatant.
Today’s famine was not sent by God. Indeed, He has done so much for us as a nation and has rained blessing after blessing down on us. He has sent countless preachers who have preached the Word from the poorest neighborhoods up to the White House. Drug addicted gang members have had a chance to hear the Gospel and the elite of Washington D.C. have had a chance to hear the Gospel. No one who had ears could have failed to hear the Gospel somewhere and at least once in their lives. Contrary to a famine of the Word, God has provided a feast for us. Anyone in the country has access to a Bible in dozens of translations and in a handful of formats: printed on paper, delivered electronically, voice recordings, video acted out by live actors or by cartoon characters – pick a format! TV, radio, Internet, just open your ears and listen. It’s truly a feast waiting to be taken by anyone who hungers for God’s Word. Never before in the history of mankind has the world enjoyed such free access to God's Word. What does all this mean? It means that today's famine of God’s Word is self-inflicted.
This famine is similar to what happened in Israel in some ways.
The present famine is one result of living in a society that enjoys excessive material luxury. When you read through the Old Testament prophets, you see that the people and the leaders kept putting off dealing with the warnings they received. There was no sense of impending doom because they lived in the lap of luxury. When you have all the food you want to eat and live in nice homes with all the latest amenities of soft living, who would even notice the danger that is looming over their land?
Luke 8:14 NKJV
Now the ones that fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.
The present famine is also a result of a corruption of the morals of the people and the leaders. Immorality used to be what the Church stood against. Now, it’s embraced in our churches and the standards have been lowered so low no one can trip over them. Just step over those pesky standards and live your morally bankrupt lives with hardly a thought for God’s Holiness. God asks us to take on His holiness, but in today’s churches we hardly ever THINK of His Holiness. People who read God’s Word today get an uncomfortable feeling from its rigid ideals. It is seen as out-of-date and too “stiff” for our modern times. Pastors who dare to preach from the Bible are labeled and word gets around that they’re too reactionary and hardline and people should be wary of going to a church like that.
People used to look forward to church services. Now there is a stampede as soon as the Pastor says, “You’re dismissed.” Most people only want to be entertained in church, and worship times have become weekly music concerts that are choreographed and use a multi-layered presentation to appeal to the senses.
Many churches today suffer from severe "spiritual malnutrition," and, I repeat, this condition is self-inflicted. Is it any wonder so many Christians live lives of discouragement and defeat and depression?
It must have been terrible for the Israelites when their time ran out. The fierce Assyrians marched across their land and swept them away into captivity in strange lands. Imagine being forced to walk from Ohio to Tennessee and being told to move into a house in a city where no one spoke English. You have no job and no food and there isn’t a church within 200 miles and no one to talk to. Welcome to your new home.
Today, we are even more guilty than the people of Israel were. We not only reject the words of Moses and the Prophets, as it existed in Amos' day, but we reject the writings of the Gospel writers, the apostles and Jesus Himself! We have had so much more to ignore to get as bad as we have gotten. Every day we turn aside from the feast He has laid out before us. We starve in the midst of plenty.
Stephen Cram September 15, 2012 Colossians 2:8
Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. Colossians 2:8
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