Amos 8:11: “Behold the days are coming, saith the Lord that I will bring a famine in the land, not a famine of bread or a thirst for water but of hearing the words of the Lord.”

“Water water everywhere and all the boards did shrink

Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge  “Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

On a website by the U.S. Department of Energy in “ask a scientist” Professor Bill explains why we cannot drink sea water.  Apparently, the salt content is so high that our kidneys cannot produce enough urine to eliminate the salt.  Therefore the more sea water you drink the more danger there is in becoming dehydrated.   Can you dig it?  The more sea water you drink, the more you will become dehydrated.

No nation on earth has the Word of God as available to them as much as the United States.  It is on TV, radio, internet, CD’s, podcast, books etc., and yet I am constantly meeting Christians who are so hungry for the Word of God that they are literally starving.  It seems the more teachings and the more we get of the Word of God, the more it seems that the American Christian is dying of thirst for the Word of God.

Perhaps God is sending a famine to this land, not of a want of bread or a thirst of water, but for the Word of God. Why is it that with some much evangelism going on we do not have a nation filled with Christians?  Why, if there is so much hunger for the Word God our nation with its freedom of religion and expression can not see revival and stadiums filled with believers  without investing millions of dollars in publicity and promotion and entertaining the crowds with music and bands? If people are hungry for the Word of God, should we not just need to say: “The Word of God is being spoken in my church this Sunday, you gotta come.”  If people are starving and thirsty for the Word of God they will flock to that church.  But it doesn’t happen.

The key to this verse is in the word for words of the Lord.  Here words in the Hebrew is davar.  There are basically two words in the Hebrew for word.  One is amar which is the spoken word, average every day word.  The other is devar.  These are heartfelt words, words that come from your heart.  You’ve seen it many times, particularly when listening to a preacher.  The preacher will get up and start speaking from his notes saying lot of words, ‘amar.  The all of a sudden his voice changes, it gets softer,  he is no longer speaking from his notes, he is sharing something that he probably never intended to share, something very personal, there is a quietness in the congregation, maybe some tears, and everyone’s attention is suddenly focused on the preacher because he is no longer speaking words ‘amar but words davar. He starts to speak from his heart.  The  word davar  is spelled Daleth – gateway or portal to the knowledge and presence of God, Beth – one’s heart, and Resh – repentance.  When one hears the davar they are hearing words which open a portal, or gateway to the knowledge and presence of God (Daleth) which enters one’s heart (Beth) through repentance (Resh).

With the presidential election going on we are hearing a lot of ‘amar, just words.  Tonight there is a Presidental debate and we will hear a lot of ‘amar from both candidates.  Both will be speaking words that were rehearsed.  Each word they say has been carefully chosen to the dismay of many they feel like they were listening to robots.  They long to hear a candidate speak from His heart.   One candidate has tried to avoid the script and speak just what he feels and he captured the nation’s attention.  People just long to hear from someone’s heart and not just chit chat.

I used to teach Drama in Middle School and I would encourage my young actors to really take on the part of the person they are playing.  To really feel like they are that person.  If you really believe you are Scrooge, you will make the audience believe you are Scrooge.  I paid my way through college as a ventriloquist.  I used to teach other’s ventriloquism and my basic instruction was that you have to believe that piece of wood sitting on your lap is a real person and is really conversing with you.  I had some students say that they  just could not get over the fact that there was just a piece of wood on their lap.  They had all the mechanics of ventriloquism down pat.  They could speak without moving their lips but they could not create that illusion that their dummy was a real person because they did not believe it to be a real person.  Edgar Bergan, the greatest ventriloquist that ever lived, moved his lips, but somehow he made his piece of wood named Charlie real, because he believed Charlies was real.

Many Christians seek to evangelize and win others to the Lord, but they fail miserably because they are just speaking a lot of words or amar. I grew up in fundamentalism where you had to be a soul winner or people would question whether you were really a Christian or not.  In fact I felt that if I were not out winning souls, witnessing for Jesus I was really not a Christian. Yet, I didn’t know then what I know now is that I was suffering for Asperger’s Syndrome and I could not approach people to witness.  Evangelism terrorized me but the fear of going to hell was greater than the fear of approaching people evangelistically so I gave it the old college try. I learned the script, the four spiritual laws, the Roman road etc. But it was just words ‘amar.  I was speaking these words only because I was trying to keep myself from going to hell and to prove to myself that I was a real Christian because that is what the preachers taught me made a good Christian.

One day I feel in love with Jesus and if you know anything about Aspie’s as we are called, they tend to get real focused on their passions.  Jesus became my passion, I loved and still love Him more than life itself.   Aspie’s  have a real problem, they don’t communicate well at all, unless the subject is on their passion and then you can’t shut them up.  My passion became Jesus and whenever a stranger tried to start a conversation with me, on a plane, train or bus or just outside, I would somehow steer it to my passion and before long the stranger would become silent listening to me talk about the one whom my soul loves, many times there would be tears in their eyes, many times they say they too would like to know Him.  I would walk away from the conversation and after a while it would dawn on me, “Oh my gosh, I just led someone to the Lord, I’m a soul winner.”

Most people, not everyone, but more than you realize really respect the true believer, the one who is passionate about his love for Jesus.  Actually people respect someone who is passionate about anything and will express that passion. That is what makes a musician, a writer, a teacher, a politician, a salesmen or  any leader successful.  It is the phonies that people can’t stand.

I have learned that the key to evangelism is not having a script, leaning the four spiritual laws or the Roman road, but first falling in love with the one you are trying to share with others.  People will respond to your passion because you will not be speaking ‘amar just words, but davar, words from the heart.