The worst thing imaginable was about to happen in Israel. Do you know what it was? Not a pandemic or a plague. Not war or death. Something far worse than all those disasters. Listen: “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. People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it” (Amos 8:11-12). Because God’s people had rejected him and his prophets over and over again, there was going to be a famine of the Word of God. What a judgment! People were not going to be able to find God’s Word anywhere.
Can you imagine how awful that would be? A famine of the Word of God? No word of forgiveness for your guilty conscience. No word of eternal life in the face of death. No word of comfort in the midst of strife. No Jesus. No peace. Wouldn’t it be awful to not have the Word of God? To walk through the valley of the shadow of death—alone… To deal with your sin—alone… To face everything—alone…
“God, may that never happen to us! God, may that never happen in our country!” May you and I take advantage of this incredible blessing that God has given us—the Word of God! Open you Bible each day and hear God himself speak to you. Memorize Jesus’ words of comfort, so that no one can ever take them away from you. Gather together with other Christians as often as you can. Who knows how long we’ll be able to worship openly together? “These words are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name” (John 20:31). There is life in the Word of God, because God’s Word tells us about Jesus. There is no greater blessing in life.
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