"Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord GOD, "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)

 I recently heard this verse quoted in a teaching series on DVD (about teaching, which was very interesting), and it called my attention to think about how hungry people are for God's world.

In today's modern world, and specially here in the United States, everything has become globalized, from restaurants, to movies, everything. We have more access than in any other time in history to just about everything. The Word of God is no exception (although it is limited in many countries around the world), we have several Bible translations, countless number of style of teachings and many, many resources...yet so many Christians fall short in truly being hungry and thirsty for the Word of God.

In this teaching I was watching, the Pastor made a point when he said how he had been teaching many years in America, and towards the end of his teaching, he would notice people getting impatient, looking at the clock, moving around and basically being ready to leave after nearly 45 minutes of teaching. He also traveled to other countries in Asia in which he noticed the opposite, he even recounts of one occasion in which he was done after teaching for nearly an hour and the people kept asking him for more, they hadn't had enough. They were hungry and thirsty for God's Word in ways that the people back in his home church, were not even close to.

Why is it that we take the richness of the Word of God so for granted sometimes? In my own walk with the Lord, I have had very different seasons. I have had seasons in which I just can't get enough of God's Word, when I just want to indulge my Bible all day and it doesn't seem to be enough; and there are other times in which I take the Word for granted, in which I can let my Bible just sit on my coffee table for days at a time. I have been very convicted recently about that, specially since I am serving at my church, I know that I can't let my walk get flaky...yet, it happens.

So, I have decided this, if I start seeing hints of my hunger and thirst for the Word dry out, I must re-quench it, and never allow for it to run out. Its a challenge, as I am so easily distracted by daily routines and things I need to do. But the question I often ask myself is "How can I not want to spend time with my Maker, with the One who gave me my Salvation and changed my life forever?"

You know what I am saying?

I think of the woman in the well, when she encountered Jesus:

Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water." The woman said to Him, "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?" Jesus answered and said to her, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." The woman said to Him, "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."
(John 4:10-15)

Lord, I never want to be thirsty again, I want you to quench me with the never-ending water that will only satisfy my thirst!

I love how God gives us these reminders every now and then, when we need them the most. As I have expressed in previous entries, I am entering a new chapter in my life, one that I am jumping into with great excitement...and at the same time a certain level of fear. I had become very comfortable running the Usher and Hospitality Ministry at my church, and now that God has pulled me out of there (more like I made the decision, based on what He had been tugging my heart with), I am moving on. I am currently doing the announcements at church, which my pastor believes will make me more comfortable teaching in front of people some day. Some people have given me very good compliments about how I have done it, and even though it is mostly just reading out of a piece of paper, it is big step for me, one that I was up to a certain point very afraid of taking and if all goes well and is in God's will I will be teaching the young adults/ college study in the fall in a larger scale, and I can not do it alone.

In fact, I dare not to do it alone...only with God I can do it, He gives me strength, and that comes from fellowship with Him. How can I even try to accomplish anything on my own?!

So I leave you today with a challenge:

GET IN THE WORD.

STUDY THE WORD.

EAT AND DRINK THE WORD, UNTIL YOU CAN'T ANYMORE!