“I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the LORD. – Amos 4:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (March 30, 2026): Amos 4

Have you ever been hungry? I know that after a long day, we often say we are starving, but the truth is, we are not really even hungry, let alone starving. We could go much longer without food; in fact, many do in various parts of the world. But I have been hungry, especially during my college days. There were times when I simply couldn’t afford food, and so I didn’t eat.

I remember a conflict I had with a roommate. In this case, I had been busy and hadn’t gone shopping. My roommate, who had borrowed and even destroyed many of my belongings, had left for a month-long work trip out of town. He left, and I felt I could use some food, so I went to the cupboard to see if there was anything left. I didn’t have anything, at least not anything I felt like eating, but my roommate had left a few tins of canned spaghetti. Not the best meal, but it was easy to make, and my roommate was gone for a month, so I had plenty of time to replace the can. I made myself some lunch, intending to do some grocery shopping that afternoon. The problem wasn’t that I didn’t go shopping, but that my roommate changed his mind and didn’t go away for work. He came home while I was eating his spaghetti, and he was none too pleased with his roommate. I did go shopping that afternoon and bought him a tin of spaghetti.

Amos speaks to the women of Samaria, the Capital City of the Northern Kingdom of Israel. And Amos speaks with a theme. The prophet recognizes the trouble the Northern Kingdom has experienced and assures them that the trouble they have gone through had a purpose. Every struggle had been intended to bring the nation back to God. From the moment the divided kingdoms emerged, the north chose to step away from the faith of the people centered on the Temple in Jerusalem.

And so, God had allowed their choice to go it alone without him. He allowed the struggle because he loved them and wanted to bring them back to him. But the people had refused to return to the God who had brought them out of Egypt, and continued to follow the idols that their kings and priests had placed before them. They experienced hunger, but did not recognize it as an invitation to return to the faith of their fathers.

God still invites us back into faith. But we have to hear the invitation, and often we don’t.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Amos 5