“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, NKJV)

The time between the last book of the Old Testament and first book of the New Testament is known as the intertestamental period. During these 400 years, there was no prophetic word of the LORD. Nothing was recorded in the canon of Scripture. God had said all He needed to say, but the people were not living according to His words. The last thing that the prophet Malachi said was that God was sending Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD. He would turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. This was fulfilled in John the Baptist who prepared the people’s hearts to receive the Lord Jesus Christ.

But prior to this revelation, there was nothing. No words of God for four centuries! The prophet Amos predicted that there would be a famine on the land, but not a famine of food, or a drought of water. People would long to hear the words of the LORD, but they would hear nothing but their own opinions. God was preparing their hearts to receive the words of Christ. When Jesus did show up, the people were amazed at His teaching.

“And many hearing Him were astonished, saying, ‘Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him?’” (Mark 6:2, NKJV)

I believe that we have gone through many years where people have not wanted to hear God’s words. They have banished God from their public lives and secular institutions. They have claimed that there is no absolute truth, and they have been swayed by the winds of public opinion and political correctness. But this leaves people empty, searching, and without any firm foundation for life. If right and wrong are not universal truths, then anything goes. Our culture has reaped the consequences of such thinking in sexual confusion and abuse, heinous acts of violence, and disrespect for all authority.

But could it be that the pendulum is beginning to swing in the other direction? Have people come to the place where they are longing for what is real and true and for what works? We can hope, pray, and labor for this cause. And we can prepare our own hearts by receiving God's words and doing what He says.

“Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is wise, like a person who builds a house on solid rock. Though the rain comes in torrents and the floodwaters rise and the winds beat against that house, it won’t collapse because it is built on bedrock.” (Matthew 7:24–25, NLT)