Our Contemporary Theological Famine

Amid the prophecies of Amos concerning the coming judgment on the nation of Israel is the following pronouncement of God,

"Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord God,

"That I will send a famine on the land,

Not a famine of bread,

Nor a thirst for water,

But of hearing the words of the Lord." (Amos 8:11)

Because Israel would not listen to God's prophets, in just retribution, the Lord silenced the prophet's voices, and the people experienced a famine of the Word of God.

The late theologian F.B. Meyer's comments seem prophetic regarding today's predicament:

And perhaps this privation will one day be meted out to our beloved country. There is a much larger proportion of our population outside than inside our churches; and men proudly eschew God's Word. It may be that the message of the Gospel will almost cease from among them, and be replaced—as in so many instances is now the case—by the dry husks of morality and ceremonialism. Then they shall run to and fro to seek the Word of the Lord, and shall not find it.

As Jesus declared in Matthew 4:4, "It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God," so let us pray for a return to both faithful proclamation and hearty consumption of God's Word.

Kaiser (1981) highlights the irony of our misplaced priorities:?

Theological and Biblical malnutrition has afflicted the very generation that has taken such giant steps to make sure its physical health is not damaged by using foods or products that are carcinogenic or otherwise harmful to their physical bodies. Simultaneously, a worldwide spiritual famine resulting from the absence of any genuine publication of the Word of God (Amos 8:11) continues to run wild and almost unabated in most quarters of the Church.

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References:

Meyer, F. B. (1898). Our daily homily. Marshall, Morgan & Scott.

Kaiser, W. C. (1981). Toward an exegetical theology. Baker.

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