I woke up ravenous for the Word this morning. This past week was a blur of constant running and activity. I worked my usual job, plus subbing at the high school and caring for three grandchildren. There were no hours left for spending time in God's Word and on this Shabbat morning I woke up as hungry for the Word as a starving person in a third world country, ravenous for a cake of flour or a handfull of rice. Then it came to me - the LORD says such a day is coming! "The days are coming," declares the Sovereign LORD, "when I will send a famine through the land - not a famine of food or thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD." (Amos 8:11)What I am feeling this morning is prophetic. The Holy Spirit showed me that people are running out to buy guns in greater numbers than at any time in history. Why? Because the news tells us that a time is coming soon when Americans may not be allowed to own guns, or may have their guns confiscated. People are also storing up great quantities of food and water. Why? Because we are keenly aware that with all the weather disasters and calamities occurring there could well be a shortage of food in the near future. Grocery store shelves could be cleared in an hour if transportation is halted, Droughts in California, Florida and the southwest could destroy all the crops. Water could be quickly contaminated by outbreaks of salmonella or other bacteria, as happened in southern Colorado recently.
Guns, food, water, supplies: these things are being stored to preserve life. But Abba Father says, "the days are coming when I will send a famine of HEARING THE WORDS OF THE LORD." What does this mean, and why are we not spending as much time storing up His Words as we are in storing up physical supplies? Food and water will sustain our physical bodies on this earth, but the Word of God will sustain our souls into eternity! As Americans we can scarcely understand what it might mean to have our Bibles taken away from us. We have lived in a blessed nation where persecution against believers in Yahshua does not exist. Yet I believe that in the very near future it will be legally considered a hate crime for us to practice our faith. We will be accused of practicing a false religion that claims it is THE ONLY WAY. But that's what Yahshua said, isn't it? "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6).
Gratefully I sit in my big chair in a splash of sunlight this morning, my cherished, tattered Bible in my hands, gobbling the Word of God, storing it in my heart, my mind, and my spirit. I ponder again the Amos 8:11 verse: "The days are coming when I will send a famine of hearing the words of the Lord." That word "hearing" is the word sh'ma in Hebrew, which means hearing and doing. Will there be a day when I no longer HEAR the Word of God? Yes, I believe that day is soon. Will there be a day when I no longer DO the Word of God? Never! I pray I have stored enough of it in my heart so that even when I no longer hear it on radio, TV or in the pulpits of churches, I will still DO it with all my heart, and all my soul and all my strength.
Shabbat Shalom!
