Famine

Ruth 1:1-5

Bethlehem, the town where Elimelech and Naomi called home was experiencing a famine. Bethlehem was in the area of Judah in the land God promised his people. God had promised that as long as the people continuted to worship him faithfully he would continue to bless them. Unfortunately, the people had stopped being faithful.
Oh, they were going through the motions. But thier hearts were not in it. They had begun looking to the gods of the people who had lived in the land before them. So God sent a famine into the land.
One interesting tidbit: the name Bethlehem means 'house of bread.' So Elimelech moved his family out of God's breadbasket to live in a pagan world. There he and his sons would die.
Physical famine dries up the land. It leaves behind hungry desperate people.
Spiritual famine dries up the soul. It leaves behind hungry desperate people, only these people are hungry for something they usually can't define. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5 what it is we are to hunger and thirst for - God's righteousness. We are to hunger and thirsty after being right in the eyes of the Lord.
God sent a physical famine to Judah because the people were living in spiritual famine. He was trying to get them to turn their hearts back to him.
Signs of spiritual drought are not always easy for others to see but they can be identified. You experience no desire to pray, you are not reading God's Word, you have no heart for worship, and you isolate yourself away from Chrisitan fellowship.
Why did I mention famine today? Stop and evaluate your hunger level. What have you spiritually eaten today? Have you exercised worship yet? Are you living in a spiritual famine?