A Famine of Hearing
In the manual: Come, Follow Me lesson 48, “Seek the Lord, and Ye Shall Live,” on Gospel Library
Start
In a famine, people go hungry because there is no food. Amos warned of a famine where people would go hungry for something else (Amos 8:11).
Read Together
Amos saw a basket of summer fruit, ripe and about to spoil, and the Lord said Israel’s end had come (Amos 8:1–2). Israel had told its prophets to stop prophesying (Amos 2:12).
11Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord: 12And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the Lord, and shall not find it.
11In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:
What It Teaches
The famine would be “not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord” (Amos 8:11). A people who silenced the prophets would someday look for the word of the Lord and be unable to find it. They would “run to and fro,” searching (verse 12).
After the Savior’s apostles died, the world passed through a famine like that. Priesthood authority was taken from the earth. Many plain and precious things were taken out of the Bible too (1 Nephi 13:26–29). People still loved the Bible, and many searched for more.
Joseph Smith was one of those searchers. At fourteen he read the Bible, went into the woods on a spring morning, and prayed. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to him (his account). The famine began to end that morning.
Amos 9:11 ends the book with hope. “In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen.” At a council in Jerusalem, James, a leader of the Church, quoted these words to show that the gospel was meant for every nation (Acts 15:13–17).
Talk About It
What would our family miss most if we could not find the word of the Lord? What helps you feel spiritually fed?
Take to Church
Amos warned of a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. That famine has ended, because the Lord has spoken again through prophets and restored scripture.