A Good Appetite for God’s Words

            Behold, the days are coming…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 (Amos 8:11).

This is an Old Testament prophecy from the Lord God. There would be a famine—not a physical one, but a spiritual one. It would be a famine of God’s words.

Today, even in the lives of believers, we see the fulfillment of this prophecy. This famine of the words of the Lord is one that is self-imposed. It stems from an inability to take in God’s words, rather than a scarcity of His words.

As with the ingestion of physical food, we know that there are ways to spoil our appetites.

Stuffing ourselves with junk food such as candy and cookies right before mealtime guarantees an inability to enjoy or even eat any real, nourishing food. In the same way, our spiritual lives are often stuffed with all kinds of junk we consciously or unconsciously feed our souls.

Junk can come in the form of the music we listen to—the lyrics that ring in our ears even after the MP3 players are turned off. Junk can be reading material that fills our mind with unedifying afterthoughts. It can be images from the TV, from the big screen, from our computer monitors.

When life gets too busy, we may not even remember if we’ve eaten our meals. Or we may feel so stressed out by our commitments that we battle heartburn or indigestion, and food becomes the last thing on our minds. Spiritually, if we do not take time to quiet ourselves, to enjoy rest for our souls, we are not going to be able to digest spiritual food well.

Being aware of the threats to your appetite is the first step towards regaining your appetite. Remove whatever is cluttering your soul and spoiling your appetite for God’s words. Lift the self-imposed famine, so that you can draw closer to God and receive His nourishment. Then your soul will find great joy and relief from the hunger and thirst.

 

            Questions for Reflection:

What is the junk you have been ingesting to the extent that your appetite for God’s words has diminished?

What are some practical steps you can take to remove the “junk” that has spoiled your spiritual appetite?