“‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘When I will send a famine on the land, not a famine for bread or a 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’” (Amos 8:11-12).
In the modern world of internet technology, it is difficult for us to imagine not having instant access to a Bible. But in biblical times, copies of the Torah were kept either in the temple (2 Kings 22:8) or by the LORD’s prophets (Dan 9:10). To discover God’s will, therefore, people depended on dreams (Gen 37:5), the Urim and Thummim (Exod 28:30; Lev 8:8; Num 27:21; Deut 33:8), and the prophets.
While hearing God’s word and knowing His will for our lives has never been easier, many of us prefer seeking guidance from religious teachers or social media influencers.
But during times of personal or national apostasy (such as in our verses above), the God of Israel would “pull the plug” on all communication and go silent (see 1 Sam 28:6). In biblical parlance, God’s refusal to speak to His people is called the “hiding of His face” (Deut 32:20). For the ancient Israelites, not being able to hear from God to discern His will was like being completely lost without water in the middle of the desert, with no connection to a phone tower or to the internet.
But as terrible as it was for the ancients to be famished for a word from God, today’s spiritual starvation is completely self-inflicted. For in most places in the world, there is a surplus of Bibles in every home, not to mention dozens of translations available through the internet. While hearing God’s word and knowing His will for our lives has never been easier, many of us prefer seeking guidance from religious teachers or social media influencers. Of all the generations who have roamed the earth, we are above all without excuse.
But would that we as individuals and as a nation begin to feel the effects of this needless spiritual deprivation. O that we would begin to hunger for the bread of God’s word and His gift of living water (Deut 8:3). For without a divine vision to guide us in the truth, we most assuredly will perish (see Prov 29:18).
