Famine in the Land

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:

The word "famine" in the verse above does not mean the absence of having or possessing the Bible. Famine here is the absence of understanding the Bible. This is a famine of the word or hearing the words of God.

God said there is going to come a day when my people won't know anything about My Book, the Bible. It's already happening in our own country; we have removed the Bible from our institutions of learning and such, and now we're ignorant of knowledge of the Bible. Our people in this land are filled with ignorance.

The ignorance of the Bible is destroying this world, and the ignorance is not in the world. The ignorance is in our hearts!!!

How we respond to this Book is how God responds to us. If we are careless, naive, and ignorant about Him, God will be careless and reckless with us. Therefore, our opinion about the Bible and our knowledge about the Bible is extremely important.

The purpose of the church is to take the message of the Bible to people who do not know this book, and to accomplish that, it means that somebody has got to know the the book!!! How can you share the truth of God's word if you yourself have very limited knowledge of it. Not knowing the book is why converts and young Christians fall so quickly away from the church. If we don't teach each generation to read and love the Bible and follow its commands, then in a relatively short period of time, we will no longer have any true Bible-believing churches in our land.

Your marriage, your family, your child-rearing, your work, and your relationships with people are all areas built upon God's word, and if it is not, then you are going to have a life of problems in each of these areas. You will be like the foolish man who built his house upon the sand; when the storms of life come, and they will come, the rain and resulting flood will wash the foundation away, and your house will come down with a big CRASH!!!

Matt. 7:24-29 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

If we are going to be people of the Book, we had better know the Book about which we are talking. If we are going to be people of the Book, we had better enjoy what God has given us and saturate ourselves with it!!!

What can we do to help us to understand God's word and prevent a famine in our lives???

1. Declare war!!! Make it a priority in our home that God's word comes before other activities in the home, such as TV, the Internet, and hobbies. Reading and studying the word of God should be our first priority.
2. Study the Bible!!! Don't just read the words of God, but study and know exactly what God is telling us with those words. Get good study helps to aid your understanding of the Bible as necessary.
3. Develop a culture of learning!!! No matter whatever our age or depth of knowledge about the Bible, we should have a lifetime commitment and desire to continue to learn more about the truths in His word.
4. Fight to be people of the Book!!! Get serious about our faith and service to God, refusing to allow the modern thoughts and philosophy of the world (i.e. politically correct) to guide our steps in life; develop a Biblical world-view mindset, not man's world-view thinking.

Deut. 6:1-7 Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Deut. 8:19-20 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God.

What you do with God and His word, the Bible, will determine what God does with you.