Amos 8:11-12 NLT
“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.
[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.

Famine is the general scarcity of food, water, or any substance. It is the lack or want for provisions, that may occur due to a lack of rain, or the shortage of something.
Israel rejected the word of the Lord from Amos and went into exile, where there was no word from the Lord at all. In the absence, they discovered that the revelation from God had been their most precious possession, now, that it has become scarce.
Like Israel then, this generation is experiencing and suffering the effect of famine of the word of God, the word of God has become very scarce now.
The Lord says He’s bringing a famine but not a physical, material, or agricultural famine but a spiritual famine. Even then, there’s a famine of all things right now; morality, compassion, love, and the right to basic human decency seem to be scarce. But mostly spiritual famine, the spiritual thirst for the ways and things of the spirit, a famine of the authentic word of God.
People have repeatedly rejected God’s words but when situations beyond their control arise, they will suddenly be unable to find clarity because they have never treated the word as vital for life.
The problem in churches today is the lack of spiritual vitality among God’s people and a great love and zeal for knowing the Lord Jesus Christ and living for Him! As ungodly and unrighteous characteristics are daily exhibited by believers.
Leonard Ravenhill said, “People who are not praying are straying; preachers who are not praying are playing…We have many organizers, but few agonizers; many players and payers, few prayers; many singers, few clingers, lots of pastors, few wrestlers; many fears, few tears; much fashion, little passion; many interferers, few intercessors; many writers, but few fighters. Failing here, we fail everywhere.”
Wow! How true.
We are a generation that seeks men of God, raises prayer points and seeks prayer contractors, a generation that does not seek the word or the God of the word on their own.
When we are hungry or thirsty, we seek food or water to quench and satisfy the need, we don’t wait or seek for someone else to offer us what we seek, says Psalm 143:6, it is a natural action to stretch out our hands seeking what we need. It is natural, under the influence of distress, and eager desire, to try to catch our needs. As a thirsty land—Parched and burned by the sun, longs for rain, so should our thirsty souls long for the living God.
We have become a generation of desolate, drought beaten and desperately looking for refreshment, revival, and succour.
The message Amos had for the people of his time, is the same for us today and only those who have ears open to hear the word of God, and hold on to the spoken word, receive it.
Spiritual famine can only be eradicated by waiting on the Lord and placing our confidence in Him according to Isaiah 26:8.
Amos says: we will run to and fro seeking the Word of the Lord and will not find it. There is no substitute for the Word of God. There’s famine in the land, do not be caught out.
Shalom