God's word nourishes and grows us, it lets us get to know God better than any experience with tongues, prophecy, meditation or charity work. Without God's word we become famished and depraved, it drains our faith. Feeling weak in your faith? How much have you been reading and delighting in God's word?
Check out Amos 8:11-14:
11 “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.
12 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.
“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.
12 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.
13 “In that day
“the lovely young women and strong young men
will faint because of thirst.
14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria—
who say, ‘As surely as your god lives, Dan,’
or, ‘As surely as the god[b] of Beersheba lives’—
they will fall, never to rise again.”
will faint because of thirst.
14 Those who swear by the sin of Samaria—
who say, ‘As surely as your god lives, Dan,’
or, ‘As surely as the god[b] of Beersheba lives’—
they will fall, never to rise again.”
Do you see? To not read God's word is like a famine, it makes you weak and restless, no surprise is it that our faith is weakest when we think on God and listen to what He has to say least! If you want revival in your faith, God's word, the Bible (with prayer), is a great place to start (if not the best).
Compare Amos 8:11-14 to Psalm 1:1-3:
1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.
See the difference? Famished and faint, staggering around, or prospering, yielding fruit, well nourished? You choose. (Choose the second one!)
(Also Amos 8:9-11 sounds a little Christ in the OT, but I'm not sure.)
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