Silence can be deafening sometimes, especially when it comes from someone who is supposed to be your anchor.
I sat uncomfortably in my room the rest of the afternoon, praying that my dad not say those three words. Then the door to my bedroom opened, and my father entered the room. Silently. Not a glance in my direction, as he walked over to that plaque on the wall, took it down, and left the room. Not a word was spoken. I’d already heard everything there was to hear. It was time for action. I had been praying, “God, I don’t want to hear my dad say he’s disappointed!” But it turns out that hearing nothing was much worse.
That’s how I learned my lesson. If anything I’m probably a little too honest nowadays. And I’ve learned that not everyone had the parents I did, so not everyone would have the same reaction I did to my father’s silence. The reason that moment was so impactful for me was because it was rare. My parents were not distant. And they were rarely silent.
Silence can be deafening sometimes, especially when it comes from someone who is supposed to be your anchor. The Israelites experienced this too in Amos 8.
“The time is surely coming,” says the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine of bread or water but of hearing the words of the Lord.
“The time is surely coming,” says the Sovereign Lord,
“when I will send a famine on the land—
not a famine of bread or water
but of hearing the words of the Lord.
(Amos 8:11, NLT)
This is speaking about a time to come, when God would give them the silent treatment. They broke the covenant God had made with his people. They were unfaithful to Him, and as a result, there was a pronouncement of judgment on the people in chapter 6.
In keeping with that courtroom analogy – and I happened to have recently completed jury duty, so I’m completely qualified to use this legal jargon. What we have here is a judgment rendered, so it’s time for the Judge to sentence the people for their crimes. That’s chapter 8.
And the crimes they committed sound awful, right? Cheating people, mocking them, completely devaluing and dehumanizing them… how could someone do that? Well, the issue was their unfaithfulness to God. The mistreatment of people was just the means by which they were unfaithful. So let’s be honest here… we’re not that far off.
Sometimes, we would rather ignore the reality of how God calls us to live than to disrupt the lives we’ve built for ourselves.
Sometimes, we would rather ignore the reality of how God calls us to live than to disrupt the lives we’ve built for ourselves.
Maybe you – like the Israelites – can even look back and see that God has been trying to get your attention. See, God doesn’t just start with the silent treatment. He had tried other things. He even sent plagues like He did with the Egyptians, but still they would not turn to Him.
I find it really interesting that Pharaoh’s heart eventually softened with the plagues, but God’s own people? They weren’t moved. Like, you know better. And you’re still choosing your own comfort and ease when you know He has called you to a higher life that is so much better than what you can offer yourself.
A famine hearing the words of the Lord. What does that actually mean? What did the words of the Lord do for the people at this time? “Word” here actually has a few different connotations to it. It means word of command, advice, counsel, promise. For the Israelites, a word from God brought comfort, guidance, direction, next steps. This is what would be removed.
People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from border to border searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.
We see this illustrated in verse 12: People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from border to border searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it. Stagger and wander. These are not terms of certainty. This is what you do when you don’t know what you’re doing. You stagger about, hoping you don’t lose your footing and fall down. You wander from place to place hoping to find comfort in a place of desolation.
But I actually think the impact of losing God’s words might be best illustrated in verse 10:
I will turn your celebrations into times of mourning
and your singing into weeping.
You will wear funeral clothes
and shave your heads to show your sorrow—
as if your only son had died.
How very bitter that day will be!
As if your only son had died. The role of a son is to carry on the family line, which was important to Amos’ audience, to the point that if a man died without producing a son, his brother was responsible for giving the widow a child, and that child was considered the offspring of the dead brother.
God always keeps His Covenant. He will always fulfill His purpose.
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