A FAMINE OF HEARING THE LORD’S WORD
Amos 8:1-14
“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. (11)
chapter 8
1. This is what the Sovereign Lord showed me: a basket of ripe fruit.
2. "What do you see, Amos?" he asked. "A basket of ripe fruit," I answered. Then the LORD said to me, "The time is ripe for my people Israel; I will spare them no longer.
3. "In that day," declares the Sovereign Lord, "the songs in the temple will turn to wailing. Many, many bodies - flung everywhere! Silence!"
4. Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land,
5. saying, "When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?" - skimping on the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales,
6. buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat.
7. The LORD has sworn by himself, the Pride of Jacob: "I will never forget anything they have done.
8. "Will not the land tremble for this, and all who live in it mourn? The whole land will rise like the Nile; it will be stirred up and then sink like the river of Egypt.
9. "In that day," declares the Sovereign Lord, "I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10. I will turn your religious festivals into mourning and all your singing into weeping. I will make all of you wear sackcloth and shave your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son and the end of it like a bitter day.
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.
12. People 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. Those who swear by the sin of Samaria - who say, ’As surely as your god lives, Dan,’ or, ’As surely as the god of Beersheba lives’ - they will fall, never to rise again."
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
1. God sent yet another vision to Amos. This time it was of a basket of ripe fruit. God was sending a message that Israel was ripe for his judgment. He would no longer spare them because of their sin. The rich had done away with justice and trampled the poor. Justice and righteousness were gone from Israel. So, God would punish them. Their songs of supposed worship would turn to wailing, and there would be many dead bodies. God hates injustice and the trampling of the needy.
2. The judgment of the Lord would be more than physical and material. The judgement would also bring spiritual suffering as well. God would turn their religious festivals into mourning and their singing into weeping. He would bring about a famine of hearing God’s word. At this time people will realize they need the word of God for survival. They will hunt for it as a dehydrated person searches for water. But they will not find it. At some point, God abandons the unrepentant sinner. But God is our life. We must stay in his word.
Prayer: Father, our sin cuts us off from you. I know I cannot survive without your word. Keep me in your word each day.
One Word: Stay in God’s word