"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord:"
Amos 8:11
I think using the word famine here helps us to understand the absolute necessity that God's word is to us in our lives. Without it, we spiritually starve. We waste away, and are at risk of death if we don't take the search for the water of life seriously. God is that water, and his words are the scriptures and the words of the prophets, and the words that he grants us individually through prayer. That communication and relationship that we have with God is what sustains us and lifts us and offers us hope, life, and meaning.
Am I saying that life is meaningless without God? Yes and no... not entirely, at first. It is more like growing up in an orphanage and being a little bit lost because you have no connection to your family, heritage, or culture. When we don't have that connection to God we feel an emptiness or that there is something important missing. We try to fill that void with many things, but none of them work for long, because the hole is God-shaped, and nothing else will work. When we find him, and allow him into our lives, we make that connection. We fill that void. We have family, and we have a connection through whom we can learn our heritage and our culture. We can learn to understand who we really are, and the possibilities and potential before us.
If we choose to make covenants with God to remember and follow Christ, then he will lead us to all good. If we reject that connection, then yes life is meaningless in a way, because we are now choosing to have a void in our lives and we know for ourselves exactly what is missing, which is much different than it was before we understood or experienced that sense of completion. Perhaps the same difference between a famine and a hunger strike... specifically a hunger strike without a purpose, like suicide by starvation. (Definitely not fasting, which we do to eliminate distractions from the Lord, instead of blocking him out.)
Maybe my analogies are a little muddled today, but I hope the main idea comes across... without God, our lives lack something essential, and until we find it, we can't know the richness and depth and true goodness that there can be in life. Today, let's work on not spiritually starving ourselves, but instead, let us seek God and his word, and find that hope and meaning in our lives.
Amos 8:11
I think using the word famine here helps us to understand the absolute necessity that God's word is to us in our lives. Without it, we spiritually starve. We waste away, and are at risk of death if we don't take the search for the water of life seriously. God is that water, and his words are the scriptures and the words of the prophets, and the words that he grants us individually through prayer. That communication and relationship that we have with God is what sustains us and lifts us and offers us hope, life, and meaning.
Am I saying that life is meaningless without God? Yes and no... not entirely, at first. It is more like growing up in an orphanage and being a little bit lost because you have no connection to your family, heritage, or culture. When we don't have that connection to God we feel an emptiness or that there is something important missing. We try to fill that void with many things, but none of them work for long, because the hole is God-shaped, and nothing else will work. When we find him, and allow him into our lives, we make that connection. We fill that void. We have family, and we have a connection through whom we can learn our heritage and our culture. We can learn to understand who we really are, and the possibilities and potential before us.
If we choose to make covenants with God to remember and follow Christ, then he will lead us to all good. If we reject that connection, then yes life is meaningless in a way, because we are now choosing to have a void in our lives and we know for ourselves exactly what is missing, which is much different than it was before we understood or experienced that sense of completion. Perhaps the same difference between a famine and a hunger strike... specifically a hunger strike without a purpose, like suicide by starvation. (Definitely not fasting, which we do to eliminate distractions from the Lord, instead of blocking him out.)
Maybe my analogies are a little muddled today, but I hope the main idea comes across... without God, our lives lack something essential, and until we find it, we can't know the richness and depth and true goodness that there can be in life. Today, let's work on not spiritually starving ourselves, but instead, let us seek God and his word, and find that hope and meaning in our lives.
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