Amos 8:11: “Behold the days are coming, saith the Lord that I will bring a famine in the land, not a famine of bread or a thirst for water but of hearing the words of the Lord.”

“Water water everywhere and all the boards did shrink

Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge  “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

On a website by the U.S. Department of Energy in Ask a Scientist Professor Bill explains why we cannot drink sea water.  Apparently, the salt content is so high that our kidneys cannot produce enough urine to eliminate the salt.  Therefore the more sea water you drink the more danger there is in becoming dehydrated.   Can you dig it?  The more sea water you drink, the more you will become dehydrated.

No nation on earth has the Word of God as available to them as much as the United States.  It is on TV, radio, internet, CD’s, podcast, books etc., and yet I am constantly meeting Christians who are so hungry for the Word of God that they are literally starving.  It seems the more teachings and the more we get of the Word of God, the more it seems that the American Christian is dying of thirst for the Word of God. Perhaps God is sending a famine to this land, not of a want of bread or a thirst of water, but for the Word of God.

The key to this verse in Amos 8:11 and it is in that Hebrew word which we render as Words of the Lord.  Here words in the Hebrew is davar.  There are basically two words in the Hebrew that are rendered in English as word.  One is ‘amar which is the spoken word, average every day words or conversation.  The other is devar.  These are words spoken from the heart. They are meaningful words, words of truth. Devar is often associated with words spoken from God’s heart.

Christians are hearing lots of words about God or ‘amar in this country, but few hear devar.    ‘Amar enters one’s mind, devar enters one’s heart.   Many words or ‘amar are spoken which are pretty, and beautiful, but few lead one to repentance which is the key ingredient to receiving a devar.  As a result we may be experiencing a famine in this land or maybe just many Christians on a personal basis are experiencing a famine for the Word of God in their own lives.

The word famine in Hebrew is ra’ab.  This word comes from the Semitic root RA.  It is a loan word from the Ancient Egyptian.   RA is rooted in the concept of some type of evil. In Hebrew the final letter or third letter will tell you what type of evil that is.  In this case the evil is in the shadow of the final letter, the Beth, which, in its shadow form, is being filled with spiritual pride.   It is possible to so fill your life with religiosity, idolatry, and selfish gain, personal spiritual agendas, that we have no room left for the purity of Jesus Christ to fill us with His Words or devar.

One can spend their whole life studying the Word of God, studying the works of theologians, the Word of God in the original languages and in many academic institutions. They can earn many letters after their name and before their name, yet for all these years of study and research they could only hear ‘amar words that only enter their mind and not devar words that will enter their heart.  In fact it can be like drinking sea water, it will not quench your thirst and you could die of dehydration.  It can never satisfy that deep longing and hunger to know God, if anything it may even make that longing more intense.  The very words one may read can only be ‘amar words of the mind which would dry you out just as the water of the seas will dehydrate a person who drinks it.

Yesterday afternoon following our church service I helped host an Angel Tree luncheon. The Angel Tree program is sponsored by Prison Fellowship and provides gifts for the children of those who have a parent in prison.  Each gift has a name tag on a little card shaped like an angel with a short hand written message from that child’s parent who is serving time in prison and unable to spend Christmas with their child.  I watched one little girl who had come with her grandmother to the luncheon. She was no more than eight years old. I watched and listened with my heart as she opened her present.  I had to listen with my heart for she did not say one word as she opened her gift.  I watched as she very carefully removed the little angel card with her father’s message on it. Her father was in prison and would not be home with his little daughter for Christmas. This little child, this father’s daughter,  did not tear open the package as most children do when they open a Christmas present.  This child did not even seem to be interested in what was in the package. Her focus was on that little angel card with that short two sentence message written by her father. She deliberately and carefully removed the angel card which was glued onto the wrapping paper off of the paper.  Then she carefully tore off the wrapping paper that still clung to that little angel card. Not until she was sure that that little angel card with her father’s handwritten message of love was carefully and safely put away did she then open her gift.  She said not one word, but I listened very carefully with my heart.  I heard her heart sing, it sang her song of sorrow.  She spoke to us, although not audible, she spoke her heart to us, she spoke words of  devar.

You know why only 2% of American Christians have actually read through the whole Bible word for word?  It is because we tear open the Word of God to get to the present and totally ignore the devar, that message of love from the heart of God.  Next time you open the Word of God, carefully remove that message of love, make sure the entire wrapper is off of it, and then place it in a safe place, make sure it is secure in your heart before you begin to tear open the present and get to all the goodies.

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