Amos 8:11-12  Behold, the days come, says 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: And 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.

Their songs will be like howling.  God won't listen to them.  And now we find that when the nation falls, the people will be desperate to hear God's words from the scrolls, but they won't be able to find them.  They won't know what to do and won't be able to find anyone who knows what to do.

Can you imagine not being able to read God's words in the Bible?  When I am faced with a problem that seems impossible to solve,  I really don't want somebody's opinion.  I want God's opinion.  It may take a while to find a passage that speaks to me, but I always find it.  And it is always personal.

When my third daughter died unexpectedly when she was nine days old, I found that in the following two years I couldn't sleep for fear that one of my other three children would stop breathing in the night. I would lie down, and minutes later run to their rooms to see that they were okay.  I was exhausted all the time.  Sleeping only when someone else was there to watch them for me.

One day I found a scripture in Proverbs 3:24 that spoke personally to me.  "When you lie down, do not be afraid.  Yes, lie down and your sleep will be sweet."  So I did.  Lie down.  And finally trusted God with the night watch.  I told God:  You take the night watch, and I'll take the day.  At first, I would lie down and quote scripture: "…lie down, lie down, lie down…" and say to myself, "That is a commandment directly to you personally from God's word.  Just do it.  And so I did.  Sleep was sweet.

I can't imagine not having God's word.  It is always personal.