Amos 8:11 “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.
If you spend enough time around kids you will encounter some sad stories. Kids who are facing all sorts of difficulties in their lives and who have fallen victim to eating disorders or self-harm. It really is a heart-breaking thing.
Amos, the shepherd-turned-prophet, had been delivering God’s word to the people. Their idolatrous ways and their refusals to repent had caused judgment to fall. All sorts of terrible things were on the horizon - siege, violence, exile, etc. They would face terrible depri-vation of food and water. But then, Amos delivers today’s passage about a famine of a dif-ferent kind. A famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
To many, they would immediately breathe a sigh of relief! Doing without food and water? That would be life-threatening! Doing without hearing the words of the Lord? They’ve been training for this hardship their whole life! Yet God, through Amos, does not see this as a joking matter. It is deadly serious.
When someone willingly starves themselves, we rightly say they have an eating disor-der and look for medical and psychological help. We know that eating disorders are a kind of self-harm and are very serious. But what about when someone willingly starves themselves of hearing God’s words? Don’t we casually treat that as just a choice that they have made? (Too many find it a perfectly legitimate choice.) But God seems to feel that it is deadly serious!
When we choose not to hear God’s words by not attending church and not reading the Bible, we are choosing to make other words more important. If God’s word will not be author-itative in our life, someone else’s will. They could be the words of the music we listen to, the books we read, the podcasts we download. They could be a conglomeration of all these dis-tilled then to our own words. We have elevated our own words to a place that should be reserved for His. This is, sadly, not shocking. It is the norm. Far more unusual is the commit-ted follower of Christ who holds the Word of God as authoritative in their life and lifestyle.
When I elevate other words to a place that should be reserved for God’s words, I am committing a type of idolatry. It’s likely that neither you, nor anyone you know has an actual stone, metal, or wooden idol in your house. But idolatry comes in many forms. It’s just putting anything in the place that should be reserved for God. Yes, God hates idolatry, but He loves you. He is always ready to forgive and renew relationship!
Blessings,
Pastor Russ
