Amos prophesied God’s judgement against the northern kingdom of Israel for her corruption and social injustice. At a time when Israel was prosperous and complacent, he warned that the Chosen People were not safe from God’s wrath.
The book of Amos was written to Israel, the norther kingdom. The church today is not the northern kingdom. The people of America are not the Chosen People that Amos prophesied to. Yet, we would be foolish not to see the parallels.
We, too, live with an abundance of possessions and provision. We too live in a culture complacent in its sin. And, we also suffer from a famine of hearing the words of our Lord. Love your children enough to not allow the competing voices of a country and culture in conflict with God be louder in your children’s ears than his words. We are a nation that is staggering. Give your children the word of God. Do not let them stagger and wander without the beauty and sustaining power of God’s word.
“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord,
“when I will send a famine through the land—
not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.
People will stagger from sea to sea
and wander from north to east,
searching for the word of the Lord,
but they will not find it.
Amos 8:11-12