Amos 6-9

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Amos%206-9&version=ESV


Amos 8:11-12: "Behold, the days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the LORD, but they shall not find it."


As we continue in chapters 6 to 9 of Amos in our readings today, I was struck by the verses above. Amos is continuing to tell the people of Israel of their impending judgment because of their sin.

Israel, the people of God, would have a famine of the words of the Lord. They would seek for the word of the Lord and not find it. Wow!!! The people of God would not be able to find God's revelation to them. I think this is the most inditing punishment on the people of Israel in the whole book of Amos.

And you know, this is happening to our nation today. People are seeking a word from God but not finding it. Why? It is not because it is not accessible to people. Today we have the NIV, NASB, KJV, NKJV, RSV, and ESV (my favorite) in versions and translations of the Bible. With the advent of the Internet, the Bible is available for free on an innumerable amount of websites as well.

No, the issue why people are not finding it is because they are not looking to the Bible. They are looking to self-help books, and gurus, and pantheistic ideologies that seek to build one's self esteem up and image. There is nothing wrong with having a positive self esteem and image if it is grounded in the Biblical understanding of man's fallen nature in sin and that the only thing that makes him pleasing in God's eyes is the righteousness of Christ that is imputed to him when he or she places their faith in Christ for their salvation.

But the world doesn't want that. They want to contribute to their salvation. Jesus doing it all for us on the cross is foolish to the world. They want no part of it.

Isaiah 55:1-3 is such a beautiful and applicable scripture pertaining to this:

"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money,
come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does
not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live;"

The Lord wants us to call on Him. To those who are Christians, we can become hardened to the Word when we neglect it. That is why we must read and re-read our Bibles year after year.

I know we have just passed the half-way mark in our Bible readings for this year. And I want to commend all who have stuck with it. (And for those who have fallen behind, it is never too late to just start with today's reading and continue with us the rest of the year!!) I would like to ask that you prayerfully begin to contemplate what you would do in regards to your Bible readings for next year.

It is great that we are reading the Bible together as a class. But the Christian walk, as we all know, is a marathon and not a sprint. Without a constant refreshing of our souls with the truths of Scripture on a day by day and year by year basis, we are subjecting ourselves to the ills of the world.

Pray to the Lord and thank Him for the gift of His Word. Value His Word, store His Word in your heart. It is only through knowledge and growth in the Word of God that we can learn of, know of, and strive to live like Christ.

That in and of itself should be worthy enough to create an excitement in all of us to read and study His Word for the rest of our lives.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Today's post was submitted by Russ Shellhamer.