Amos 8:11 (NIV) “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.”

Prophets are not among the most beloved persons in the Bible. In fact, they were frequently told to , “Shut up and go away!” Nevertheless, the prophets were God’s “burden bearers.” They were God’s prosecutors and spokesman. They told the truth and the people didn’t like it, didn’t want to hear it. So it was with Amos, the man God sent from Judah to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, at a time when they were living fat and happy during a season of great prosperity in the land.

Now, prosperity itself is not a bad thing. It was one of the promises God made to His people, they were to inherit a land “flowing with milk and honey.” Crops would be abundant; wine and oil would overflow, the herds would flourish, and everyone would dwell safely in the land God was giving them. And never before were the people more prosperous, never before was there so much luxury in Israel, than in the time of Amos.

But God had given Amos a mission to warn the Israelites of the coming judgement on the nation. Amos did just that, much to the people’s dismay. Amos begins with this terrifying announcement: Amos 1:2a “The Lord roars from Zion and thunders from Jerusalem; The priest Amaziah actually told Amos to shut up and leave the country. Then, Lord gave Amos visions of judgement, locusts, fire and a plumb line that measured Israel and found them wanting. The scripture we are exploring today, (Amos chapter 8), is the fourth vision, ripe fruit, where God says, “Time’s up!”

The people of Israel had made their prosperity to be an idol, one that justified them in the pursuit of more, while they practiced an insincere form of worship. They mistakenly believed that the performance of ritual was the same as true spiritual worship. They were wrong. Their special position as the chosen of God would be lost.

As a result of their superficial worship and wrong priorities, the Israelites would be impoverished, persecuted and exiled. But the worst punishment would be the famine for the word of God. He would no longer speak to them. His prophets would be silent at last. The proud Israelites, the only nation whose God dwelt among the people, upon whose word they depended every day, would lose that most precious gift. They would hunger and thirst for righteousness; they would search high and low for a word of hope, of help, of deliverance, but they would not find it.

Why is this famine the worst thing that could happen to Israel?

1. Israel’s history begins with God’s call to Abram, a word from God.

2. God has always promised to be with His people – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, David.

3. God’s word set the pattern for, and the rhythm of their lives.

Israel, in rejecting Amos’ prophecies, rejected God. The consequence would be that God would remove His presence from among them. The prophets would be silent. Only then would they realize how precious is the word of God. Israel would disappear, taken into exile into Assyria, never to appear again.

About 750 years later, God came down to His people; Jesus the Christ was born, “the word became flesh and dwelt among us.” After Jesus’ resurrection, the church was established, it grew and flourished. But the old sins of the fathers remained. 

In the book of Revelation, Jesus has this to say to the church at Laodicea, “You say ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.” Then Jesus offers this comfort, “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.”

These warnings are for God’s own people. They are not meant for the unbelievers. God’s people are held to a higher standard. We are held to a higher standard. We are in the world, but not of it. Our behavior, our priorities, are to be different for the sake of Christ.

There are at least three matters to consider, three that we must review over and over, in order to live in a manner that is pleasing to God.

Superficial worship.Has our religious practice become rote? Is it superficial, for public display only? Has it become a well-organized “to do list” to be accomplished so that we can get on with real life? Is there a “gap” between what we profess to believe and our behavior out in the world? Do we alter our religious practice to suit ourselves? Are our religious practices just superficial formalities?

Idolizing our prosperity. Have we adopted they ways of the world? Have we made “success” our priority? Do we adopt the world’s dishonest ways to make a buck? Has our own prosperity become our idol, causing us to expend more effort to maintain our comforts than to build our relationship with the Lord? If there is anything in life that we value more than a right relationship with God- even “our church”. An elder in my former congregation challenged the congregation with this question, “Do you love ‘your church’ more than you love Jesus?”

The danger of prosperity, of the “good times”, is the tendency to:

• lessen our reliance on God
• increase our desire for even more wealth, luxury and personal sovereignty.
• turn our faith practices into ritual, a task to be over with so we can get on with “real life.”

An attitude of entitlement. Do we feel our religious observance and orderly religious practice entitles us to God’s continued blessing? Right doctrine is important, but worship in spirit and in truth is essential. We must love the Lord “with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.”

The worst penalty that could befall us is the absence of the presence of God and His word. Unbelievers are not troubled by this; in fact they are pleased when God is silent.

But the believer feeds on the word of God. We desire to draw near. We seek constantly to strengthen the bond with our Savior; to maintain a right relationship with God.

If, instead, we feed on our prosperity, when we make it the priority of our living, God will act to re-arrange those priorities. He will send a famine, and we will learn what true hunger is.

The question for us is: are we in danger of a famine for the word of God? Let’s examine ourselves, and discipline ourselves to continually seek out the word of God.

1. Hear it: read, listen, sing, pray and talk.
2. Believe it: take it to heart, soul and mind.
3. Spread it: talk about it, show it in how you live.
4. Apply it: let the word of God infuse every fiber of your being so that in everything you say and do, God’s word will be evident.

Let this be you; let this be me. Cherish the word of God, and the word of God will not depart from you. If we do this faithfully, we will be nourished every day, in all of our being and doing. The result will be evident in how we live, a light shining in the darkness. Let us take care my friends, to worship God always in spirit and in truth. Let’s not be distracted by the luxuries we enjoy in this nation, nor be caught up in desiring more and more. Let’s be sure to make God the central focus of our lives, to make worship a constant aspect of our thinking and living. God forbid that we, as individuals, or as a congregation, or as the church, should ever so trivialize or neglect our obedience to the Giver of Life, that we should lose His gracious presence, or the life-giving sound of His words of love and truth. SDG