Hunger for the Word

Has God silenced His mouth

Amos 8:11–12 KJV 1900

Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, That I will send a famine in the land, Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord: 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.

I. Initiated by the Lord

v.11 aBehold, the days come, saith the Lord God, That I will send a famine in the land

A. Galatians 4:4-7 “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

B. John 6:44 “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.”

II. Executed by Silence

v. 11b Not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the Lord:

A. Matthew 4:4 “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

B. Psalm 63:1 “O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: My soul thirsteth for thee, My flesh longeth for thee In a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;”

Early will I seek thee. The true Christian devotes to God the morning hour. He opens the eyes of his understanding with those of his body, and awakes each morning to righteousness. He arises with a thirst after those comforts which the world cannot give, and has immediate recourse by prayer to the Fountain of the water of life. The true believer is convinced, that nothing in this sinful world can satisfy the wants and desires of his immortal soul; he expects his happiness from God, as his portion. When faith and hope are most in exercise, the world appears a weary desert, and the believer longs for the joys of heaven, of which he has some foretastes in the ordinances of God upon earth.

III. Anticipated Reaction

v.12a And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east

A. John 11:10 “But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.”

B. Acts 17:26-27 “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:”

C. John 7:34 “Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come.”

VI. Culminated Judgement

v.12b They shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.

A. Hebrews 10:29-31 “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

B. Genesis 6:3 “And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.”

C. “Will you starve to death and into eternal judgement having not feasted on God’s bountiful table”