Unnecessary Famine

12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the
north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of
the LORD, and shall not find it.
13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.

A famine in the land snaps us to attention. We used to get a lot of snow and moisture in the winter. The ground used to be soft and pliable. Now it is cracked; we will probably see a water shortage by summer. Being in drought is a scary time. Weather forecasters cannot accurately predict because of the strange fronts coming through these days. We know the consequence of drought is famine. Gardens won't grow vegetables, trees won't bear fruit–this brings a famine of food along with the lack of water that caused it.

In the Old Testament times God used famine to judge his people. They willfully left God. When the famines came eventually they saw their need and ask the Lord to help. Is God sending an old-fashioned famine to us today? Do we need to stop and look up to God? This famine is not of food; it's not a lack of water. This famine SHOULD NOT happen–its a famine for hearing the WORDS of the Lord; it's not a famine of the WORD of God but a hearing of the WORDS of God. Don't look at others. Look at yourself. How much of the WORDS of God in your heart? It's not how many Bibles you have. It's not reading your Sunday school lesson. HOW MUCH ARE YOU HEARING THE WORDS of the Lord? It's not a lack of the WORD. The Bible has proven itself to be the WORD of God. It never fails. It never deceives. It is complete. It meets our need and helps us in a very personal way. The Bible is God's WORD to us BUT he speaks to us through the Spirit and to relay its WORDS.

Do you read it? Yes. Do you know it? Yes. We'd all say yes; however many only know the Bible in a general sense. You know how many books there are. You may know where some of the verses are located. We are quick to say YES, YES, YES. I know it well. Then why are we confused, mixed up, hopeless? There is a difference in knowing in a general sense and hearing God's specific WORDS to us. He is not a silent God. He is an active God. He wrote it, delivered it, and handed the Bible to you and me. We open and reading here and there. Our daily lives show we don't know it all. We read God's WORD but we do not listen to his WORDS.

Sorrowfully God says the day will come when people read but don't listen. God wrote it for us and everything we'll ever need is there. Jeremiah said we are to seek out the WORDS of God. Seek? We seek but do we listen. There are plenty of Bibles; it is widely read. The famine is of listening to the WORDS. Open it; there are syllables, words, and sentences to help and show us what to do and to enlighten us. Word after word, yet we don't listen. We don't want to hear. We give more respect to the television or a magazine applying their words to our lives quicker than we do the WORDS of God. Next thing we know the devil has knocked us down. We need the WORDS of God like we need water to drink and food to eat.

This is a needless famine. We are smart people, in the know. We know right from wrong, true from false, yet we are as dumb as stick horses. We've become stubborn and self-willed surrounded by our prosperity. We tune God out. If we don't get rain, we'll pay a lot more for our groceries. Worse than that–if we don't start listening to God, we'll completely lose touch with him. In a famine crops don't grow and what does dries up and dies. Without listening to God in a specific way we will dry up thinking we don't need him. The less WORDS we hear the less we'll grow and enjoy God. Look at what we have, yet we are an unhappy, dissatisfied people. Have we begun to starve?

True Christianity is hard to come by these days. If we quit listening we'll get lawless. A famine brings about a breakdown of laws. Those who wouldn't steal will to feed their children. There is rioting as civilization breaks down. In a spiritual sense there is no law, no discipline, no principles in our lives. This is not what will come; it is here right now. Without food we lose weight. Deterioration begins to happen from the inside out. Every part of the body suffers. Without hearing the WORDS of God we lose our ability to function; we will dry up and become something we never intended to be. After the deterioration comes death. Go without food and water long enough and you will die. A few years ago Karen Carpenter starved herself and still looked in the mirror and said she was fat. It killed her. We say that's crazy, BUT WE DO IT TO OUR SOULS. There is no substitute for personal WORDS of God. We can't make it through life and eternity without those WORDS.

Have you forgotten how to hear? Do you not care? Do you pay attention? Have we come to the place in our lives that we go to God and do all the talking– to the point that he cannot speak to us? He can't talk. We need to shut-up and listen to God. Stand still and listen.

A spiritual famine is not necessary. We have talked long enough. I've preached long enough. We need to come, kneel down, and listen to God. Quit the conversations for a while and open our hearts and allow God to speak–WORDS. We all need to hear from God.