If you have ever spent much time around someone who lived through America's Great Depression, then you know that they are made out of something different than you and I. Their experiences of going without the certainty of where their next meal or stitch of clothing would come from had such a dramatic impact on their life that every decision or life choice that they would make for years to come would be a reflection on those years of poverty.
I've never even come close to living through something like that. In today's America, so many people live beyond their financial means on a daily basis that should we ever have to go through something like the Great Depression again, most of us wouldn't even know where to begin in order to make do with very little.
I began thinking about all of the times in the Bible (mainly in the Old Testament) when you read the words, "There was a famine in the land.". The Children of Israel seemed to always be headed for or coming out of a time of being without the promise and provision of food, usually due to the lack of rain or as punishment from God.
However, the prophet Amos spoke of a time when the famine would be much more severe than going without a meal or two. Amos was speaking to a people who were much like you and I and the vast majority of people in America. Israel was going through a time of financial and political prosperity and security. Well, much like America, anytime Israel experienced such wonderful times, their desire to remain faithful to God waned. There was such religious and moral corruption taking place that God couldn't stand for it any longer. He prophesied through Amos that there would come a day when their unfaithfulness would be punished. God's judgment would cause His chosen people to be taken out of their homeland into exile by Assyria . . . but in my opinion, that wasn't the worst part.
Amos tells them that God is not only going to turn their feasts into famine, but this famine would starve their souls.
"'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
When I read that verse, my mind immediately began to think of the vast amount of Christians today who are practically living through a spiritual famine. Our material affluence keep our physical bodies satisfied, yet we are so consumed and distracted by the things that the world has to offer that we have neglected to feed our spiritual bodies. We can no longer hear God's voice speaking to us because it is drowned out by the noise of everything else that we have put before Him.
There have been times in my own life whenever I have been through a spiritual famine. If God was speaking to me, there was no way I would have been able to hear Him because my ears were being filled with the voices of everyone else except the One who truly mattered. I was filling my spirit with things that would provide no eternal satisfaction to my life, rather than feasting from God's table which would sustain me longer than anything this world could offer.
I am worried about the spiritual famine that I see taking place in America today. I am scared that the time of financial and physical feast that we are experiencing has caused the vast majority of Christian Americans to be in the middle of a spiritual famine. I wonder if they would even be able to hear God if He spoke directly to them.
Spiritually speaking, where do you stand today?
Are you in a spiritual feast or famine?
Do you feel God's presence and hear His voice offering you direction in your life?
Have you been able to withstand the temptation of being consumed with what America has to offer in exchange for feasting on God's love and promises?
Hear me when I say that you don't want to get to the place in your life that the Children of Israel had gotten to. They had wrongfully embraced affluence, political security, and immorality, rather than remaining faithful to the things of God.
If you're in the middle of a spiritual famine right now and haven't felt God's presence or heard His voice in quite some time, seek after Him today. Begin feasting on His Word. Clean out the distractions in your life that are getting in the way of your relationship with Him. Take time to worship Him regularly and give Him the praise that He is due. Just as Israel found restoration in their relationship with God, I am certain that He will provide that same restoration to you, too.
I've never even come close to living through something like that. In today's America, so many people live beyond their financial means on a daily basis that should we ever have to go through something like the Great Depression again, most of us wouldn't even know where to begin in order to make do with very little.
I began thinking about all of the times in the Bible (mainly in the Old Testament) when you read the words, "There was a famine in the land.". The Children of Israel seemed to always be headed for or coming out of a time of being without the promise and provision of food, usually due to the lack of rain or as punishment from God.
However, the prophet Amos spoke of a time when the famine would be much more severe than going without a meal or two. Amos was speaking to a people who were much like you and I and the vast majority of people in America. Israel was going through a time of financial and political prosperity and security. Well, much like America, anytime Israel experienced such wonderful times, their desire to remain faithful to God waned. There was such religious and moral corruption taking place that God couldn't stand for it any longer. He prophesied through Amos that there would come a day when their unfaithfulness would be punished. God's judgment would cause His chosen people to be taken out of their homeland into exile by Assyria . . . but in my opinion, that wasn't the worst part.
Amos tells them that God is not only going to turn their feasts into famine, but this famine would starve their souls.
"'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
When I read that verse, my mind immediately began to think of the vast amount of Christians today who are practically living through a spiritual famine. Our material affluence keep our physical bodies satisfied, yet we are so consumed and distracted by the things that the world has to offer that we have neglected to feed our spiritual bodies. We can no longer hear God's voice speaking to us because it is drowned out by the noise of everything else that we have put before Him.
There have been times in my own life whenever I have been through a spiritual famine. If God was speaking to me, there was no way I would have been able to hear Him because my ears were being filled with the voices of everyone else except the One who truly mattered. I was filling my spirit with things that would provide no eternal satisfaction to my life, rather than feasting from God's table which would sustain me longer than anything this world could offer.
I am worried about the spiritual famine that I see taking place in America today. I am scared that the time of financial and physical feast that we are experiencing has caused the vast majority of Christian Americans to be in the middle of a spiritual famine. I wonder if they would even be able to hear God if He spoke directly to them.
Spiritually speaking, where do you stand today?
Are you in a spiritual feast or famine?
Do you feel God's presence and hear His voice offering you direction in your life?
Have you been able to withstand the temptation of being consumed with what America has to offer in exchange for feasting on God's love and promises?
Hear me when I say that you don't want to get to the place in your life that the Children of Israel had gotten to. They had wrongfully embraced affluence, political security, and immorality, rather than remaining faithful to the things of God.
If you're in the middle of a spiritual famine right now and haven't felt God's presence or heard His voice in quite some time, seek after Him today. Begin feasting on His Word. Clean out the distractions in your life that are getting in the way of your relationship with Him. Take time to worship Him regularly and give Him the praise that He is due. Just as Israel found restoration in their relationship with God, I am certain that He will provide that same restoration to you, too.
Yes.....God forgive me......but ...praise God ....HE calls me
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