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A Famine in the Midst of Plenty?

Amos 8.11-12 says, “’Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord God, ‘When I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine for bread or 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.’” There is irony in these words when we compare them to our day. Probably what God is saying through Amos is that he will withdraw his prophets, so that there will be no word from the Lord when the people are in distress (cf. 1 Sam 3.1; 28.6,15; Ps 74.9). The people will long for a word from God, and will “stagger from sea to sea” looking for it as starving people searching for food, but there will only be silence. Their former failure to listen to and heed God’s word caused God to stop casting his pearls before swine, so-to-speak.

The ironic thing for us, however, is that we live in the exact opposite sort of situation, at least here in America. We have the word of God everywhere. We don’t have to wait for God to send a prophet to our town, nor do we have to share portions of unwieldy and expensive scrolls in order to read the word of God. On the contrary, we have the entire, completed and confirmed word of God compiled in a single book, the Bible. And Bibles are more readily available than at any time in history. God’s word has been translated into every language, with dozens of different English versions available. You can buy it almost anywhere or get it for free from any of the dozens of churches in every town. You can put it on your computer or PDA, read it in a hotel room, carry it in your pocket, listen to CDs in your car, or read it off the internet. You can hear it preached every day on radio, TV or the internet. In addition to the ready availability of God’s word, we have Bible study helps beyond anything the early Christians or ancient Israelites could have imagined—from concordances, to lexicons, to study Bibles and commentaries galore. We can even learn the original biblical languages without attending a university. The world wide web now provides access to almost limitless study material and helps.

Yet in the midst of plenty, is it possible we too are experiencing a famine of sorts? Perhaps the famine is in the pulpits, from which the word is to be expounded (cf. 1 Cor 1.21; 2 Cor 4.7; 2 Tim 4.2). Many preachers have replaced Biblical, expository preaching with catchy subjects and pop psychology, and meaty full-length sermons with lightweight sermonettes. But is this solely the fault of the preachers, when many listeners will no longer tolerate a sermon beyond 20 minutes? In the midst of plenty, have we lost our thirst? Or are we even too busy to notice or care?

Theologian John Bright rightly insists that a church is only as great as its message. Water cannot rise higher than its source, and the source of life for the church is the word of God. Worship and service are likewise vital, but when the word is no longer the focus and foundation (cf. 1 Tim 3.15), the church will no longer have an impact on the world. If and when that happens—God forbid!—there truly will be a famine of the word of God.