This Weeks IOTW Quote is:
“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign LORD, “when I will send 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 and wander from north to east,… searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.”
~ Amos 8:11-12
Hosted this week at: Miriam Pauline’s Monologue
From the MHC, it is shared:
A famine of the word of God.
Here was a token of God’s highest displeasure. At any time, and most in a time of trouble, a famine of the word of God is the heaviest judgment. To many this is no affliction, yet some will feel it very much, and will travel far to hear a good sermon; they feel the loss of the mercies others foolishly sin away. But when God visits a backsliding church, their own plans and endeavours to find out a way of salvation, will stand them in no stead. And the most amiable and zealous would perish, for want of the water of life, which Christ only can bestow. Let us value our advantages, seek to profit by them, and fear sinning them away.
However I like how the Forerunner Commentary really broke this down (did I ever mention, I love history and learning about our Father’s word and not just reading it but digging into it?):
Amos 8:11-12
Unfortunately, during these terrible times when God’s Word is most needed to help the people come to repentance, it will be almost impossible to find. When the people finally realize that God wants them to repent, it will be too late. The seeds of their destruction have been sown, and the crop is already ripe. The only truth available to them in the tumult of God’s judgment is what they can remember. It is for this reason that God warns us in these times to “[redeem] the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16). If our hope in the Kingdom of God, the resurrection of the dead, and sharing life with God eternally are not sufficient to motivate us to repent, perhaps fear of a terrible calamity, the Great Tribulation, the Day of the Lord, or being spewed from God’s mouth as a Laodicean will move us to use the present to secure the future. God prophesies to motivate us to cling to Him and His Word right now, and He is willing to scare us nearly to death in order to save us.
During this famine, “They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but shall not find it” (Amos 8:12). Amos probably refers to the Dead and Mediterranean Seas, east to west, and adds “north to east,” describing a triangle with the south direction left out. Why would he do this?
On a map of Palestine, the Dead Sea lies to the east, the Mediterranean to the west and the nation of Israel to the north. What lies to the south? Jerusalem, where the truth was! In Amos’ day, the truth was taught in God’s Temple in Jerusalem.
Israelites wanted to be known as seekers of the truth, but in reality they did not want it. Their pride would not allow them to pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the truth, for that meant they would need to humble themselves before the Word of God.
Wander can be rendered “stagger” like a drunk or “tremble” like lips quivering in agitation because one is so angry or fearful he is unable to speak. It shows the people in a state of panic and intense agitation. They are desperately searching for what they had regarded so lightly: God, the Bible, His truth. But they cannot find them anywhere!
Thus they will seek any kind of religion, and many will fall prey to false ones. This scenario is already happening in modern Israel. New Age, mystical, and Eastern religions are growing steadily, and many “Christians” feel free to borrow “truth” from other religions. Additionally, recent years have seen the rise of ecumenical movements within a broad spectrum of religious bodies.
from bibletools.org, written by John W. Ritenbaugh ,author of Prepare to Meet Your God! (The Book of Amos) (Part Two)
When this was written, Amos was letting the people of this time, though warning would be more like it, that if they didn’t change from the path that they were going, it would be a case of not knowing what they had till it was gone.
Okay, that is oversimplyfying what was going on, but the bottom line, is notice how it is so easy to take for granted, when we are comfortable and safe and everything is within reach, until it’s gone or no longer available and then it’s too late really for the regrets that seem to start crashing in.
I feel Miriam Pauline hit it straight on when she shared,“The people were self-focused. They had no need for God, and they did not earnestly seek him. Any religious activity was more out of habit and ritual than significant relationship. “
Yet if anyone said anything, what is usually the biggest reaction? Being offended. Anger. Displeasure. Quick to comment.
However, God’s Word is and has and will always be there. He hasn’t changed, but we have.
Not great feeling, but not all things in life are fuzzy and comfy.
Thoughts come to mind of natural disasters and how fast in the blink in an eye things, our world, everything can change and it’s really those moments, not when the cable tv goes out for a few hours, or we lose a cellphone signal, but when a famine of any time comes our way, does our faith get tested and question.
I remember reading, after a past natural disaster, how people quickly just gave up on our Father and threw their bibles in a fire, and it left me thinking…”Who and what is God to them?”.
Is He seen as their servant and their are His Master, for them to pray for what they want and desire and what is good for them, and to strike wrath not out of righteousness but out of selfish gain?
Or is He the Master, who teaches US, about love and compassion and forgiveness and righteousness that sometimes isn’t for us to take, but to give up the wheel and let the Holy Spirit to seek and judge by Thy Will not ours?
Amos’s warning to his people is just a good wakeup call for us now.
In a blink of an eye, all that we have, our technology, will be nothing more but cold metal. Idols that can give no more, but there is a living, breathing, and loving Father, who righteously says:
Exodus 20:2-7
2 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery;
3 Do not have any other gods before me.4 You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me,
6 but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
From : easyenglish.info/bible-outline/amos-summary.htm
Amos was a not a prophet (holy man). Amos looked after sheep. But God sent Amos with a message to his nation (Amos 7:14-15).
Amos knew that many nations were evil. Because of these evil deeds, God would punish the nations (Amos chapters 1-2).
But Amos’s own nation, Israel, was also evil. They were cruel to poor people. The judges were not fair in court. And they served evil gods. Amos warned his people that they must confess their evil deeds to God. And they must learn to do the right things (Amos 5). Otherwise, God would allow Israel’s enemies to attack (Amos chapters 6-9). And these enemies would destroy the nation.
But God would not always punish the people from Israel. After these terrible punishments, God would allow some of the people to return to their own land (Amos 9:11-15).
A mere shepherd. We serve an awesome God.
Could you imagine or know of our mere shepherds today?
One wonders the exact words that Amos heard as he tried to warn the people of what our Father placed on Him to share to others.
Did they shrug him off? Did they try to talk him down? Did they try to attack him? Did they get offended because what he had to say and share did not fit with the life they wanted to have?
Famines come in all shape and form but there is life giving food and bread that is available and not just for pretty looks or as a trophy, but to truly, give us strength and nourishment.
It can’t be subsititued by anything. Nothing.
People try and fail and always and for eternity our Father and His word will always stand.
What are your famines? Are you afraid of a famine? Trust Him. Embrace Him. Seek Him.
He who eats my flesh and drinks my’ blood abides in me, and I in him. As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not such as the fathers ate and died; he who eats this bread will live for ever. (John 6: 56-58)
How easy in the busyness of life we forget to just….be still.
Author:
Author: Lisa McKay
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