As I read through the book of Amos this week, on a tangent from a New Testament quote, I took in the repetition of fire, destruction and judgment with the same reaction as when it appears in the other prophets’ books. The pattern is similar in most of them: the nation of Israel/Judah has turned away from God in attitude and action so they will be punished, then the nations around them will be punished for having mistreated them, and finally, God will restore Israel/Judah to the position God originally intended – perfect harmony and obedience with God and dominion over the land. Amos is no exception. God promises, through Amos, to send fire, destruction, wrath, and punishment to Israel and the surrounding nations for turning away from God. Right on, I thought. Everybody gets what’s coming to them.
Then I read a passage that quite literally brought tears to my eyes and made me catch my breath. I’m still trying to grasp the gravity of it in my life, but see what happens when you read it:
11”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.
12Men will stagger from sea to sea
and wander from north to east,
searching for the word of the LORD,
but they will not find it.
13 “In that day
“the lovely young women and strong young men
will faint because of thirst.
14 They who swear by the shame of Samaria,
or say, ‘As surely as your god lives, O Dan,’
or, ‘As surely as the god of Beersheba lives’ –
they will fall,
never to rise again.” (Amos 8:11-14)
I was just about to conclude that Amos had nothing relevant in it for me when I got to these verses. Boy, was I wrong! Sending a famine on the land… that sounds about right. But, wait. A famine of hearing the words of the LORD? Please, Lord, no!
While most of us are familiar with a hunger pang now and then, or even have had our hearts wrenched by photographs of the distended bellies of children in impoverished nations, few of us know the reality of living through a famine in an agricultural community. When there is no food or water, life hangs by a thread. Day after day, week after week, hunger gnaws at the abdomen, and light-headedness, nausea, lack of concentration and other symptoms make one weak and irritable. And underneath the physical symptoms of hunger lie the anxiety and hopelessness that food may never be found to satisfy the body. People travel miles to find food. Women carry baskets for food or buckets for water on their heads great distances in parts of the world just so their children can live. Why? Because without food and water there is no life. That’s exactly the analogy Amos wants us to get.
Jesus replied to the devil in the desert, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God”. (Matthew 4:4) He was quoting the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy, where Moses recaps what God has done among His people by making them hungry so He could feed them and draw them to Himself. When there’s no food or water, I can still rely on God. When my relationships are suffering and broken, I can still rely on God. When my finances are uncertain, I can still rely on God. But when there is no word from God – when He is silent or I have turned away from Him – I have nothing. That’s the point God wants to make to His people through Amos. When He is convinced that our hearts have completely turned against Him, He will stop talking to us and give us over to our own thoughts and actions as the ultimate punishment. The first chapter of Romans describes it this way:
“Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.” (Romans 1:28-32)
What happened when people stopped listening to God’s voice? When they continued to do what was wrong despite warnings from others and from their own hearts? God gave them over. He let them have what they perceived as freedom, which we know is no freedom at all. And what is the fruit of that pursuit? According to Paul in Romans it looks like envy, murder, gossip, hating God and becoming senseless and heartless. Ah, freedom. According to the message Amos received, not listening to God’s word will cause people to wander desperately in search of direction and comfort, but God will not be found. I cannot think of a more tragic consequence in my life.
Why does God want us to rely so heavily on His words? Because His love and His character are found in them. He speaks His heart for us and His words lead us to Him. Straying a little, listening to a little of the world’s wisdom (or our own), will be a catalyst for more straying and we will lose any sense of true north. God’s absolute standards. His best for us.
Even the “lovely young women and strong young men” will be thirsty (Amos 8:13). And those who swore by false Gods, thinking they would respond and bring them satisfaction will be disappointed and meet their end (Amos 8:14). Youth, strength, trends, self and money are all distractions, at best, and false gods that hide our Creator and stop up our ears and hearts, at worst. We are not meant to live apart from God. We were created to live abundant life, connected to the Father and our brothers and sisters, while seeking God and living to please Him.
So how does a famine like this begin? Can it happen to us? I believe that we live in a broken and sinful world so bad things will happen to us. My son didn’t get cancer because we were a disobedient family. There are mutant blood cells and fanatical religious zealots who will cause us pain. That’s not what Amos is talking about here. This is a specific call to those who have strayed from God’s best and are living in a created world of relativism, marginalizing God and His law. They have convinced themselves that God’s law isn’t good or that it’s irrelevant. That’s the only way His chosen people could have wandered so far from His design. Circumstances will cause them to go back to what they were taught about the God who saved them from slavery and enemy armies, but God will be silent in their disaster. This is the ultimate punishment.
And it can happen to us today. If we don’t read God’s Word, we can’t know it. If we don’t know it, how can we apply it? If we don’t take time to listen to God, how can we sense His direction? His comfort? His discipline? His overwhelming message to the Israelites in Amos’ time was not destruction and punishment. It was a passionate desire for His children to come back into relationship with Him and be restored. That is His desire for us as well. And there is no other way to do that than by purposing to spend time with Him and making the hard decisions that lead to obedience and life.
Please, Sovereign Lord, let there not be a famine of hearing your words in our lives. We cannot live without them. They are our sustenance and our only hope.
• Read Amos 4 and 9:11-15 and notice the connection between the calamity that has befallen the Israelites and God’s purpose for them. Have you noticed those connections in your life? Hard times that were your own fault and you know they were meant to bring you back to God? Did you return to Him? Were you restored?
• Look at the following verses about the importance of knowing God’s Word. Do these verses resonate with you? Are you spending regular time reading and meditating on Scripture? If so, what results have you seen in your life? If not, what’s preventing it?
~ 2 Timothy 3:16-17 ~ Psalm 119:9-16 ~ Deuteronomy 32:45-47
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