A Spiritual Famine
“Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “When I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but rather for hearing the words of the Lord. People will stagger from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they will go to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, but they will not find it. In that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint from thirst.” Amos 8:11-13
A famine is a time of scarcity. Whether the situation is caused by some sort of economic distress or perhaps by a long run of bad weather, a famine means food is hard to find and people go hungry. Now, the way our economy is currently behaving has made us consider the potential of hard times in the future. However, have you considered that you might already be starving to death?
In the above passage, we have God’s prophet (Amos) warning God’s people (Israel) that there is a famine coming. People will be starving but not for food. What will be lacking is the Word of God. It was said that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”. We need spiritual nourishment for our souls in the same way that we need physical food for our bodies and that spiritual food is God’s Word. The Word of God has been preserved in writing through the Bible, and we need to daily feed ourselves with its spiritual food through reading and teaching. Still, with Bibles as common as they are today, how could anyone ever starve their spirit to death?
When Amos was prophesying against the nation of Israel, he was proclaiming the Word of the Lord. Over and over, Amos as well as all the other prophets would say “Thus says the Lord” as they delivered their message; this emphasized that their message was from God and not their own. However, the people of Israel did not like the words that God had proclaimed to them. Amos and the other prophets were resisted and persecuted, with most of them ultimately run off or killed. The people of Israel decided they were not hungry and thirsty for righteousness, and so in the above passage God is saying that He won’t force them to eat it. He will give them just what they want a spiritual famine.
Today we don’t literally resist prophets face to face as the Israelites did, but we exhibit the same attitude that they had towards God’s Word. Like spoiled children that want only candy, we refuse to feed our spirits with good solid teaching from the Bible. Sermons and Bible classes are being replaced with discussion groups that would be just at home in a city council or a productivity seminar as they would in a church. Where they are still employed, preachers are often criticized for going on to long, or being too textual and not contemporary enough. We would rather read the latest fluffy devotional books than read the Book—the Bible.
It’s not that productivity seminars don’t have their place, or that preachers cannot be boring, or that no good can come from a devotional book. It’s just that too often such things are a sign of our unwillingness to feed on God’s Word. Talking about life experiences can never take the place of Bible study.
When was the last time you dug deep into the actual chapters and verses of the Bible? Examine yourself to make sure that you have not been rejecting the substance of God’s Word while clinging to a shallow religious social network. You cannot live on cotton candy, so do not neglect the solid food of the Bible. God provided us with the food we need, but He will not put us on a feeding tube if we refuse to eat.
“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. But you, be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.” - -Paul, to Timothy (2 Timothy 4:3-5)
--Ben Williamson (herofortheday@gmail.com)A Thought on Bible Reading
Daily Bible reading is the simplest and easiest of all the spiritual disciplines. It does not tax us in the way that prayer, fasting, and confession can easily do. It requires less time, generally, than worship or submission and service. Yet it is daily Bible reading that prepares us for all the rest of the disciplines. It ought to be the foundation of our daily spiritual habits. What good is prayer if we are not listening to God (Pr. 28:9)? What good will fasting be if we have not planted God’s word in our hearts that we might meditate upon it? The words of the Bible are what direct our thoughts, beliefs, words, and actions. We need to be exposed to God’s word every day in order to surround ourselves with the knowledge of His will. The righteous man delights in the law of God and meditates on it day and night (Ps. 1:2). Surely none of us have more important or precious matters to devote our attention to than the word of God.--JME
Editorial: It Makes All the Difference!
There are two ways that earthly life can be lived: it can be lived as the “end”, or “aim” of everything, and so all is focused on what we are feeling or doing at the moment – or how what we are doing or feeling at the moment will affect later times in our life here. Or, it can be lived as a “stage”, or “phase” of a much longer existence, with a view to using it as a time to prepare for and obtain eternal life. Do not be deceived: we ALL are living one of these two ways! And it is not always easy to determine which. “Getting religion” is usually based on some concept of the future, and at least the desire to escape hell and live in heaven forever. Most “church people” talk of heaven, and are consoled by thinking that they probably have avoided eternal torment (not always a well-founded “hope”)..
The tragedy for many is that the life they live is not always the life that gains eternity. Though thinking of heaven often, they still live as if this life were the “end” or “aim” of everything. Unless we have given up the earthly life NOW, there is no grounds for hoping for heaven LATER! The mindset of Moses in Heb 11:26 illustrates a fundamental approach to life. Heb 11:24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; 25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. To him, how he LIVED in the present was shaped by what he looked to in the future.
Phrased differently, in Phil 3:7, Paul said: But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. 8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ...
Bottom line? Only if I actually renounce the world in my life now do I have the mindset that leads to eternal life later. It makes all the difference in how we look at trials and troubles (and earthly JOYS too, for that matter).Even as Christ, our model did (“who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame...” – Heb 12:2), we embrace life’s adversities as essential stepping stones to ultimate joy. Rather than expecting external pleasantries, we anticipate and accept persecution and suffering as more beneficial for the final good. Internal peace sustains us (Phil 4:6-7), and we “walk the walk”. As with Paul, the “crown of righteousness” is seen as ours only if we “fight the good fight, finish the course, and keep the faith..” (2 Tim 4:6–8). How I see my life makes all the difference! –The Editors
A Final Thought: Spiritual Discipline
Bottom line? Only if I actually renounce the world in my life now do I have the mindset that leads to eternal life later. It makes all the difference in how we look at trials and troubles (and earthly JOYS too, for that matter). Even as Christ, our model did (“who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame...” – Heb 12:2), we embrace life’s adversities as essential stepping stones to ultimate joy. Rather than expecting external pleasantries, we anticipate and accept persecution and suffering as more beneficial for the final good. Internal peace sustains us (Phil 4:6-7), and we “walk the walk”. As with Paul, the “crown of righteousness” is seen as ours only if we “fight the good fight, finish the course, and keep the faith..” (2 Tim 4:6–8). How I see my life makes all the difference! –The Editors
Spiritual discipline may not a familiar phrase to some readers, but virtually every one of you likely practices some form of spiritual discipline. Discipline refers to “training, esp. training of the mind or character” (Thorndike Barnhart Comprehensive Desk Dictionary).
The Bible talks extensively about the practice of spiritual discipline. This discipline involves cultivating strength through spiritual habits in four main areas: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. Physical discipline involves controlling our speech and actions and maintaining the physical bodies God has given us (1Co. 9:27). Mental discipline involves controlling what we think and believe (Pr. 4:23). Emotional discipline involves controlling our attitude and feelings (Php. 4:6-7). Spiritual discipline, in this limited sense, pertains to the soul and our relationship with God (1Ti. 4:7-8).
Someone once said, “Make yourself a slave to good habits.” The disciplines involve practices that help us grow closer to God. You know a behavior has become a habit when you do not have to think about it anymore. Once a habit is firmly rooted, it is easier to continue doing it than to quit. Repetition can help good behaviors become habits. How do you make Bible reading, memorization, worship, and prayer a habit? Make a deliberate choice to practice it every day until you no longer have to remind yourself to do it. --JME