Famine of Hearing the Words of the Lord
Amos 7-9; Psalms 104; Titus 2
“’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…searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.’”
Amos 8:11, 12
Following God’s judgment on the idolatry and self-indulgence of Israel, he restored a remnant back to the land, but they suffered through four hundred years of prophetic silence. This was a famine of hearing the words of the Lord until a man wearing camel’s hair clothes and living in the wilderness began proclaiming, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight paths for him.”
God’s judgment on his people included withholding his prophetic word because they refused to obey his last words to them. The remnant of Israel still had the scrolls of Moses, the Psalms, and the prophetic writings, but they had no prophetic words from the Lord.
Are we listening to and obeying the Word of the Lord?
There is no greater judgment than the Lord withdrawing his presence from us.
Will we honor the Word of the Lord?
“Lord Jesus, I choose to feed on your Word and live, for your glory.”