When Revival Is No Longer an Option, God Will Send Ruin!

Posted on January 3, 2024 by Elizabeth Welte in Freedom Fighters

“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. They shall wander from sea to sea, And from north to east; They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, But shall not find it.” Amos 8:11-12 (NKJV)

 

So, Israel was about 250 years old when Amos, a sheepherder, began to preach to the people. At that time, things for the nation of Israel and Judah were going pretty well. All the governmental, educational, economic, religious, and international affairs that were mandated by YHVH were fully functioning under His decrees. However, all that outward prosperity was a mere window dressing for the moral decay that was going on within the hearts of Israel and Judah. Jeroboam II and Uzziah may have done their best to bring these nations to a level of power and prosperity that David and Solomon had, BUT because the people willingly cast God’s Word aside, pornography, perversion, and prostitution had become the commonplace, even in the matters of religion.

 

Happy New Year!! Now that 2024 has gotten itself up and runnin’ let’s be mindful that the nation we live in is approaching its 250-year-old self as well and isn’t that far away from needing an Amos. Some 40 years had passed since the days of Elijah and Elisha, while Jewish society went from good ole’ fashioned country-style living to an urbanized, proud, sophisticated, cultured, worldly-wise society. And now Amos, called by YHVH, is strolling the streets of Samaria, enraged. Ahab and Jezebel had made it acceptable to give false worship to a false god. So when Amos started to talk, he was scorn and scoffed by the elite class of a sophisticated urban population that was already groomed to give a deaf ear to the words of YHVH. Sounding familiar?

 

We, as a nation, are facing this very same thing now. Granted, we aren’t at the exact tipping point yet, but if you’re paying attention to the news, having a moral compass that points to true north seems to have lost it’s luster. It is now being replaced by a compass that is fluid, doesn’t know where it’s heading, and is comfortable with being lost. When YHVH called Amos, He couldn’t have picked a better candidate. Amos is a blue-collar prophet who calls it like he sees it and says it to every nation of the region. So, when YHVH says there will be a famine of hearing from Him, He’s not lying! We’re thousands of years from when Amos stalked the streets of Samaria; and America has an overabundance of itching ears that need tickling. What are we gonna do now?

 

“For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.” 2 Timothy 4:3-4

 

There is gonna be a famine coming and it doesn’t involve the loss of food or water, but of the Truth we find in God’s Word. Even if this curse was pronounced centuries ago and on the God’s Chosen, when we accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, we accepted the full counsel of the very same YHVH that used Amos, to boldly stand in the court of Jeroboam, and tell the elite class of its time their wives were “prosperous cows.” (Amos 4:1) That’s pretty much tell it like it is “stuff”, but as a friend of mine from work and I were discussing one morning, apparently to get anyone’s attention these days you have to be that forward with people, sad, but true. Incidentally, I borrowed that “prosperous cows” paraphrase from author, John Phillips, but you got the gist, right?

 

The curse of not being able to hear from El Elyon will be, no, wait, IS a true calamity in one’s life. For the first 40 years of my life, I made a heavy metaled choice to turn a deaf ear and when the bill came, it was due, actually past due, and the only One who had the right ransom was Christ. Amos may not have had a physical Jesus to preach about or a John the Baptist to quote YET, but he still declared that salvation was going to come by YHVH’s hand, “On that day I will raise up the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and repair its damages; I will raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old” (Amos 9:11). If you have ears to hear, then you will hear, if not, well, maybe the weight of conviction doesn’t apply on a wide road, but it won’t go through a narrow gate. God can withhold your ability to hear. Also sad, also true.

 

So, what of the title for today’s Freedom Fighter? Well, there’s a little left to cover so that’ll be for next time, but think this through: when God’s Chosen went back to the Promised Land after their captivity, He went quiet, until the Light of the World came with the fulfillment of a promise. Sometimes the way to hearing is listening. Amen?

 

Written by Chris Hughes: Chris is a child of El Elyon, a son, a husband, a father, and has recently become a grandpop. He has an education in Biblical doctrine and is a graduate of The Colony of Mercy, 11/2003. He has been a Freedom Fighter contributor since 2008. You can email him at cphughes515@verizon.net.

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This Week’s Verse to Memorize:  “For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” Zephaniah 3:17 (NLT)