SCRIPTURE:
“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.”
Amos 8:11
OBSERVATION:
Amos spoke to Israel about the worst kind of famine that one could experience. Not the absence of food, but the inability to hear the words of The Lord. He spoke not of an absence of God’s word, but their deafness to it.
APPLICATION:
The responsibility here is placed solely on the hearer, not on the speaker. The struggle will be found in the person’s inability to hear what The Lord is saying. A famine of hearing God can come about in a variety of ways, but at the root of it all is man’s pride to push away from Him.
When we are living in our sin, rebellion and pride, we really don’t want to hear what God has to tell us about our behavior. If we’re being honest we just don’t want to hear it. We don’t want to hear what we are doing is wrong, because our pride blinds us and tells us that we are right. We believe it’s everyone else, it isn’t us. It becomes harder to hear what He is speaking to us and soon enough, it’s as if we can’t hear Him at all.
When we move further and further away is when the famine sets in.
Thankfully there is a solution: Repent, return and run towards Him. Repent and turn from our ways and return to Him. Pride can so easily blind us to what is really going on around us. Instead of turning towards God, it causes us to turn away from Him, so much so that even as He tries to speak to our hearts, we stop listening. Intentionally deafening our ears to His voice. Allowing the famine to set in further.
When I feel like I can’t hear The Lord, I must examine the areas of my life where pride has set in and I must repent of it and return to Him.
PRAYER:
Father Almighty. Forgive me Lord for times when I have allowed my sin, rebellion and pride to deafen my ears to Your voice. Thank You Lord that You are still speaking. May I do my best to ensure that I can hear Your voice and Your words as best as possible, this I pray, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
