Plastic Bananas!

"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.
Men 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.
"In that day "the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst.

Amos 8:11-13

When there is a famine everyone fasts and feasting comes to an end. I have never experienced a famine. I do remember a drought year that really became frightening as everything green dried up by the middle of the summer and it seemed there would be no crops. A famine takes away the source of sustenance from a land.

When the famine comes everyone suffers except those who have convinced themselves that they don’t need food. It is indeed an eating disorder but anorexia causes a person to see themselves as fat when they are starving to death. There is a brief period when the anorexic person appears to be trim and under control. Then it begins to become really apparent that something is wrong as they become gaunt and sickly and finally die.

The prophet Amos predicted a time when there would be a “famine of hearing the words of the Lord.” When the “words of the Lord” are not available for men to eat and gain strength to live there are those who never even notice because they have “spiritual anorexia.” These have convinced themselves that they don’t need a constant diet of God’s Word. They eat just enough to be socially acceptable in church, but never “over eat” on the things of God. I am told that when a person is starving to death will lose his appetite for food. When men are spiritually starving to death they lose a desire for the food that will keep them alive.

When you first lose your appetite for the Word of God you may appear trim and fit. But that will only last for a short time. Soon you will become spiritually gaunt and sickly. You will not be able to stand against the world. You will be blown over by every “wind of doctrine” that comes along. You be of no help when it comes to carrying heavy loads.

Today, look in the Word of God for a morsel to savor and strengthen your life. Then go back for a second helping!

Be warned!

There are many today serving “plastic bananas” instead of real life sustaining fruit, vegetables and meat from God’s Word.