Famine and fasting

This... this is terrifying. There is a famine that can potentially go entirely unnoticed. The storehouses may be full, the fattened animals might fill our tables, and our houses be warm and beautiful. Our social gatherings will glitter with all that our wealth has to offer. In all of this, even because of all of this, we are in a famine.

I've realized for years that regardless of our view of future things, the churches in Revelation all have lessons for us to learn. In fact, the characteristics of all of these churches seem to be alive and well in some area of the world. North America? We are rich and have need of nothing. We are often entirely unaware that we are naked and poor and pitiful and blind.

Now hear the message from Amos to God's chosen people (Amos 8:11,12).

“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord,
    “when I will send a famine through the land --
not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
    but a *famine of hearing the words of the Lord. 
People will stagger from sea to sea
    and wander from north to east,
searching for the word of the Lord,
    but they will not find it.
----------------------
* Emphasis mine

I believe the canon of scripture is finished, so I'm not expecting new revelations about God. I do believe that God uses the completed scripture to move the hearts of His people into holiness and obedience. In Israel's case, the famine of hearing the words of the Lord came because they turned to paganism and figured they could just mix the One True God in with the others. God was livid. Yes... God was livid. His judgment in these verses is a judgment I never want to see. We are so rich! When I look at this in comparison to Revelation, I see a condition that makes God terribly sick. We do not need Him. We're satisfied. He could send a famine of His Word, and we'd never notice. We were never really interested in the first place. Meanwhile, people could stagger around the world, desperately searching for the truth that can only be found in Him and never find it. We've too often nonchalantly passed it off as relative and up for comfortable, politically correct interpretation. 

God offers an alternative. Even though Israel had long ago abandoned the worship of the One True God, even with the hideous state that the Laodicean church was in, and although our hearts may be lukewarm and indifferent to the One we once welcomed with joy, He offers repentance. Rather than being spiritually starved under the most awful famine imaginable, we can fast. We can give up those things that distract us from our relationship with Him, whether that's for a time or permanently. Everything worth having is worth a sacrifice. What fast, what sacrifice are we willing to go through in order to know Christ and make Him known?

God, do not abandon us! We plead as Amos did for judgment to be withheld; we ask for grace. We confess that we have set ourselves and our comfort above holiness. Teach us to fast with a godly fast. Please send an abundance of Your work in our lives.