Minister’s Corner: A famine in the land

By: DR. BRIAN DORE’
Member of the Ville Platte
Ministerial Alliance

In the book of Amos 8:11 KJV, we read “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.” The Lord was speaking to the Northern Kingdom of Israel, but that message is as pertinent to us today as it was back then.
If any people or nation is going to survive and thrive, they must be able to get a word from the Lord. When a people refuse to hear the word of God, God will give them His silence and judgment. That is a judgment greater than any other.
Of course there are times when people have the truth but refuse to hear it. Paul warned young Timothy that such days were coming to the church. We read in 2 Timothy 4:3-4 KJV, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
We are living in those days right now! The word of God is being preached, but people would rather listen to fables. Some men of God are entering the pulpits of the land, and they are preaching the word of God in power and under a heavy anointing, but people are turning a deaf ear to the truth they are preaching. When that happens, God will allow them to go their own way. He will allow them to reject His word. He will allow them to starve to death spiritually. If they reject His truth, there will be no more words from God, and they will shrivel up and die spiritually.
When there is famine in the land, pulpits dry up. Churches close their doors. Congregations wither up and perish. Hope, blessing, and joy vanish away. Preaching becomes empty and devoid of life. The Bible becomes a dead book. When there is a famine in the land, the people are left without direction, hope, peace, or joy. We need to pray that God will help us to “have ears to hear” Him as He speaks to us through the Word of God, His preachers, and His spirit. There is a famine in the land, but we don’t all have to starve to death.