Greetings and salutations…and welcome to another beautiful day.

For today’s installment/post I would like to introduce you to a guess writer…my wife.  Yesterday I preached on Amos 5:18-24 and upon telling my wife about this she read Amos devotionally for a couple days.  Yesterday, my wife wrote something about Amos that she posted on a discussion forum that we’re involved in with a number of friends of ours.  What is to follow is what she posted (with her permission of course).  I thought she had some great insights on what God is saying to us through Amos and made me think about Amos in a brand new way.  So…here it is.  I will pass on any comments to my wife, Connie:

I wanted to share something with you guys that really struck me last night as I was reading in God’s Word. I was reading in Amos because my hubby preached on the Amos text today, and I decided to just read the whole book.

Then I also was struck by Amos 6:3-6 “Woe to you who put far off the day of doom, who cause the seat of violence to come near; Who lie on beds of ivory, stretch out on your couches, eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the stall; Who sing idly to the sound of string instruments, and invent for yourselves musical instruments like David; who drink wine from bowls, and anoint yourselves with the best ointments, but are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.” Now I want to write to you what I read, here is the Connie translation of Amos 6:3-6 “Woe to you who feel that God is not going to return in your lifetime and therefore become complacent in our mission to make disciples, who have allowed a deterioration of Biblical values; who have the fancy houses and sit on the couch watching TV all day, eating the most elegant foods; who sing hymns/songs in church with absolutely no emotion and invent “new ways of worship” rather than focusing on what God has truly given us in worship; who consume alcohol instead of turning to God for guidance or use Bath & Body Works products when Suave brand is just the same, you are not searching for justice in the community or world, but rather search for the best for yourself”. Anyway, here is Amos 8:11&12 “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”. I was struck by the famine, because I feel that is where some of our churches are headed or are already there. We have our “books of worship” which may contain some scripture, but we are not spending the most time in God’s Word. We don’t always openly talk about God’s Word in our workplaces or our coffee fellowship downtown. We are truly in a famine. When we do talk about God’s Word or guidance, we make it into some “grandiose” language such as “And then the Lord spoketh to me saying” or some other crazy talk. I feel that God came for the people, in their terms, in their language. We the church are in the midst of this famine and if we don’t get going, we are going to dry up!

I especially enjoy the “Connie translation” of Amos 6.

What do you think about this “famine”?

-edh-