The worst kind of famine!

Amos 8:11

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…

Many famines have afflicted the earth throughout the many centuries of its existence—famines that have decimated areas of crop and civilization. Livestock has been lost, greenery has vanished, and human lives have even been taken through starvation. Think of the famine of Joseph’s day, when all the world came to him to Egypt to find sustenance. Seven years of drought consumed the land. Much was lost during that time, and such famines still inflict damages upon our world to this day. But this is not the worst type of famine. The worst type of famine is not a lack of food. The most dire dearth is not when people cannot find anything to keep their bodies alive. And it is not the famine of thirst, when one can find no cold waters for their thirsty soul. This is a grievous famine, but not the worst! The worst is not a famine of bread and water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord! Nothing is worse than this! When God removes all vision, all revelation, all communication with His people. At least in the famine of Joseph’s day, as afore mentioned, God was still working through His servant. But when God sends a famine of hearing His words, that is the most terrible time.

For you see! If God’s Word is still available and audible, and if the prophets of God may still receive the vision of God for the land, there is always hope! Hope that things may turn around! Hope that the physical famine will subside, and God in Heaven will give the latter rain. When the preachers and prophets are speaking, we have nothing really to be concerned about. But when there are no prophets left, we have come to an irrevocably tragic time. In fact, they’ll go from sea to sea and from east to west to north to south in the futile attempt to find a vision of God. But it will be too late. “They shall run,” it tells us, “to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.” They will look every where, and shall say, “Where are the prophets?” “Where are the men of God?” “Where are those who have formerly spoken to us and given a word from God?” They are missing! They are gone! They cannot be found!

And now, my dear friends, we must understand the gravity of this, and seek to disseminate the truth of God any where and every where we can while we have the ability to do so. For the time will come, the apostle has told us, when they will not endure sound doctrine; but they shall heap to themselves teachers, having inching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth. It will eventually be too late, but not yet! We still have the truth! The vision is still with us! Hallelujah! Praise God! How may we get this out to more people? You may not be a preacher or someone who is called of God to herald His Word to a nation, but you are someone who can help spread it all about you. For this is still possible! Speak it while you can! Tell others while there is still time! The time will come, Jesus said, when no man can work. But that time has not come yet. Let us not be a cause for famine, but let us be a voice for the words of the Lord while people can still hear!

“Father, we pray that you would take the truth of God’s Word, and burn it very deeply within us this day. We are not in this famine right now. And for that we praise you. Help us now, by your grace, to speak the truth of God’s Word to everyone we can while we have it readily accessible. Help us to see how important this is, because once the famine of the Word of the Lord comes, God’s Word will be hidden. We don’t want that day to come. May we continue to spread it everywhere, and may we find more ways of doing so. And we shall praise you for using us in this way for your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”