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Day 8 Amos 8 Amos 8:1 Thus hath the Lord GOD showed unto me: and behold a basket of summer fruit. 2 And he said, Amos, what see thou? And I said, A basket of summer fruit. Then said the LORD unto me, The end is come upon my people of Israel; I will not again pass by them anymore. 3 And the songs of the temple shall be howlings in that day, says the Lord GOD: there shall be many dead bodies in every place; they shall cast them forth with silence. 4 Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail, 5 Saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? And the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit? 6 That we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; yea, and sell the refuse of the wheat? 7 The LORD hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob, Surely I will never forget any of their works. 8 Shall not the land tremble for this, and everyone mourn that dwells therein? And it shall rise up wholly as a flood; and it shall be cast out and drowned, as by the flood of Egypt. 9 And it shall come to pass in that day, says the Lord GOD, that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day: 10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day. 11 Behold, the days come, says 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: 12 And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. 13 In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst. 14 They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, lives; and, The manner of Beersheba lives; even they shall fall, and never rise up again. Have you been cut off from someone you love, but took for granted, and suddenly that person wasn’t there any longer? God told Amos, his children had dealt falsely with him long enough. He was taking himself out of their lives. He told Amos they would seek him, but not find him. There would be a famine in the land, but not the usual famine with loss of food or water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. Just as God kept every promise he made to his people, he kept the promise of silence as well. As Christians, you know between the last prophet to the people, Malachi, to the birth of Jesus, was 400 years. Years when God was silent with his people. God said his people would look for him, but he would not be found. It would also be a time when their gods would desert them, and they would cast them away. With God absent, and their gods gone, darkness would cover the land, and the people would go into mourning. It would be the dark days of the soul. As Christians, have you had times when you didn’t hear from God? When you thought God was far away, and didn’t hear your prayers, when your life was full of chaos and turmoil, when nothing made any sense, and you almost gave up on prayer and God? Yet, you knew deep down, you could not and should not stop believing because your victory, the moment when God would show you he never deserted you, was a breath away. God stepped back from his people, not because he didn’t love them, but because he did. His people needed to see their need for him. They needed to reach out to him. They needed to get rid of all the idols in their lives, and turn to him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. When the people were ready, he would return to them, fulfilling not only the silent years, but bringing about his promise of a Messiah. The first time the people heard from God again was when the angel Gabriel appeared to Zacharias in the temple, and told him he would have a son, the forerunner of Jesus, John the Baptist, who would turn the hearts of the people back to God. Luke 1:13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. 14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth. 15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb. 16 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. 17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. (KJV) In being silent, God was preparing his people for the greatest event in history, the birth of his Son, Jesus. First, they had to know him. Has God been silent? Has his silence turned you to him, or caused you to desert God because you thought he deserted you? God has not deserted you. He is waiting for you to give him your full attention, to turn your heart from the ways of the world, to fully seeking him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, to give him your love, first. Then he will shine bright in your lives, and you will know he never left you, but you had left him. Let’s pray: Father, my heart longs for you as a person longs for water. Fill me Lord, with your presence. Let me know you have not left me, as I seek you with my whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. Strengthen me. Show me the way I need to go. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen. Copyright © 11 March 2018 by Valerie Routhieaux Image courtesy of Pixabay