Our Word of Life

I speak the most tragic word today.
Not one of joy, but of caution.

The prophet of old did not have an envious job. He saw visions untold. He spoke words undesired. He was persecuted in ways we cannot imagine. A lonely and undignified life of service on earth surely was rewarded the day he entered heaven.

Because the people... God's chosen people of Israel ran them off. So after centuries, God simple sent less and less. Prophets were scarce. Until the Word of the Lord was rarely spoken. And there were no Christian bookstores to go grab a copy of the Bible. There were no iPhones with Bible apps to look up a verse of encouragement.

And Amos proclaimed...
Hear this! The days are coming...
this is the declaration of the Lord God...
when I will send a famine through the land:
not a famine of bread or a thirst for water,
but of hearing the words of the Lord.
Amos 8:11

So the people hungered and thirsted.
Not simply for food and water,
but for the lack of God's word.

It is all around us now... His word.
But do we really appreciate it?
Do we seek it?
Do we memorize it?
Has it become nourishment to us?

Will there be another day
when God declares a famine of His word,
when we will have to draw it from a well within?

I pray not.
But just in case...
I will store it up now.
I will drink it in..
for You, Lord are my Word of Life,
and I never wish to stagger,
ever thirsty, never satisfied
by what speaks to my soul.