A Famine of the Word of God

Sweeter than honey; stronger than a lion (Image credit)

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. Amos 8

I was immersed in Scripture until July this year, since I was attempting to Blog Through the Bible.

I had gone through a rough time emotionally last year, and turned to Scripture to put myself together. I was inspired by how Martin Luther was delivered from his religious perfectionism and guilt by lecturing through the Bible as a Catholic seminary professor at Wittenberg University (thereby stumbling upon the great truth that a man is saved by grace, through faith alone). Scripture rescues him again from adrenal fatigue, nervous exhaustion, fear and depression--what we would today call a nervous breakdown--through his project of translating Scripture in the Wartburg.

I probably went at my Blog Through the Bible project too whole-heartedly, and was exhausted by July. My nerves needed a break from the project, though I didn’t realise the break would stretch to four and a half months!

For the last three months, I have felt an almost physical longing to be soaked in scripture. I have been feeling famished for it. We’ve been playing it in the car, and in rooms I tidy.

It’s the longest time I have gone without daily study of scripture in my almost 23 years as a Christian.

Well, it’s Advent, the start of the Church Year, and I am celebrating it by blogging through the Gospel of John--just looking at the words of Jesus. I will be sharing it on this blog, and here’s the first post.