The Two Famines

There are two “Famines” made mention of in the Word of God regarding the Church of Christ and, in token of that, the particular area or nation where a particular Church (or Churches) is called to witness to the saving grace of God. The first is a famine of the preaching of the Word of God, and the second is a famine of the hearing of the Word of God. The two are not to be confused, although very much inter-acting upon one another, The first has to do primarily with the “pulpit,” the second with the “pew.”

Just prior to the emergence of Samuel as the prophet of the Lord, we are told that “the word of the Lord was rare in those days, there was no open vision;” and then, in the prophecy of Amos, the nation of Israel is threatened with a famine – “Not a famine of bread, nor a thurst for water,” says the Lord through Amos, “but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.” Either of the two famines – either of preaching or of hearing – can have a tremendously detrimental effect upon the testimony of our God and upon the Church of His Son where He has seen fit to deposit that testimony.

From the pulpit side of things: where there is no real preaching of the Word of God in all its fulness, then the Church eventually moves into a situation spiritually comparable to the judgment that fell on Israel (on account of their neglect of the ministry of truth) when the Ark of God was taken from them and the cry of “Ichabod, the glory has departed,” echoed around the land in every Israelite’s heart.

From the pew side of things: when ears become accustomed to hear only those things that are most palatable to them then, eventually, they become completely stopped-up altogether and no fruits of comfort, or blessing, or instruction cam be reaped from the Word of God, even though a harvest may be there for the taking.

Where both conditions prevail, then the result is a double famine, and the Church of Christ in the land appears to be almost non-existent as far as a real and vital Christianity is concerned. The recapture of either of these graces, then – either of preaching or hearing – must, indeed, always prove a stirring from the dead for the Church. But, and this is what we would like to stress, if there is ever to be a real reviving of true and vital Christianity to act as salt in this wicked and perverse generation then, there must not only be a loosening of the tongues of preachers, but an unstopping of the ears of hearers.

This is an aspect of “reformation” that some seem unwilling to take into account in these days when there is so much talk on that subject. There is a great deal of hope placed in the fact of – “Pastor so-and-so exercising a reformed ministry.” But this is only part of the issue; for although there may be a veritable harvest, even of reformed preaching, there may also be a veritable famine of “hearing the words of the Lord.” Reformed ministries in the pulpits is only part of the required answer to the present need. The Lord always calls for a faithful ministry and a faithful listening to constitute His Church wherein He has deigned His honour to dwell. And the crying need is not simply that a man exercises a reformed ministry, but that he exercises it within the context of a reformed church. As we endeavour to move in that direction so we will, by the grace of God, be stretching out towards the Church’s great calling, which is the worship of God by the people of God.

The witness of the church can only be fully realised in proportion to the worship of the Church being a true worship of its God and Saviour. And this must involve the church in its totality – in pulpit and pew, in pastor and people, in preaching and hearing – so that there is neither a famine with the one or the other. This must in no way be met with the old “red herring” of looking for a “perfect” Church. Far from it. No one can rightly hold the doctrine of the natural depravity of the human heart and think such a thing. There will always be those within a congregation whose hearts are hard and whose ears are stopped. That fearful verse of Paul’s to the Corinthians just about says it all, “For there must also be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.” Indeed, any saint at any given point under the sound of God’s truth might suffer from an unhearing ear, and an un-understanding heart. But if we hold that true preaching of God is the preaching of His free and sovereign love towards us in Christ, then true hearing must fall into the same basic concepts and all that flows out from them. Therefore, true worship is both the glad preaching and the glad hearing of that whole counsel of God.

In what other environment of worship might God be more glorified than where a preacher extols something of the height and breadth and depth and length of the sovereign love and acts of God, in Father, Son and Holy Spirit; and where the people’s hearts are able to respond in a glad Amen (audible or inaudible) to the presentation of such truths? There is no other environment quite like that in the normal run of things in God’s dealings with His people.

So we would emphasise again that the recapturing of a reformed ministry in our day, although desirable and the cause of a good deal of thanksgiving, is not the complete and full answer to our general state today. It may be valid to assume that the preaching will precede the hearing; that is a valid assumption in many ways – just so long as the preaching doesn’t outstrip the hearing! Just so long as the pulpit doesn’t get so far out in front of the pews that it looks like a separate entity, with a separate identity. Reformed ministries are, indeed, needful, and desirable, in so far as reformed congregations and Churches is the end-product aimed at and desired. We cannot rest with a half-way-house type of reform or advance and, of course, we all have to realise that any other kind involves us in a slow, steady-as-she-goes, holding-on and pressing-out in hope, kind of approach. There is always a desire for a “gentle” reformation, but we will search history’s page in vain for any reform in any area that was carried out in a painless fashion. The re-discovery to the souls of many of the great truth of Justification by faith alone came in on the shock waves of a movement that cost a good few a good deal. There is little reason to believe that our present needs will be met in any other way. Let us endeavour to get the “whole argument” before God’s throne of grace. Not only that He would reverse the general famine of the preaching of God’s word, that has beset the Church over many years but that He would also take away the general famine of the hearing of his word, so that there might not only be a “Thus saith the Lord,” from many pulpits, but a determined and confident, “So be it,” from many pews.