Devotion based on Week 3 of “The Prophets” – Amos (WATCH HERE)
Amos didn’t volunteer for the job or send in his resume. He was a political activist or a religious zealot. He didn’t have prophetic training and he didn’t come from a family of prophets.
He had no personal interest or special training to be a prophet of the LORD, but the LORD wanted him for the job.
The LORD wanted him to be the person to speak judgment and call to repentance to the people of Israel. He answered that call and faithfully spoke the message the LORD gave him, but he wasn’t popular for it.
People haven’t changed. Hearing the Word of the Lord is enjoyed when it tells us we are loved. But we would rather not hear words that point out where we are straying from the Lord’s commands and the punishment that comes as a result. We don’t want to hear it.
Amaziah, was the same.
Amaziah was the priest at Bethel, one of the places in the northern kingdom of Israel that was set up for worship with an image of a calf and passed off to the people as a place of true worship of the LORD. It was not. And Amos called it out and communicated that the punishment for living contrary to the law of the Lord and engaging in false worship of the LORD would be exile.
Amos had to bring this message: (Amos 7:10-17)
10 Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent a message to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos is raising a conspiracy against you in the very heart of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words. 11 For this is what Amos is saying:
“‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’”
12 Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. 13 Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.”
14 Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. 15 But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ 16 Now then, hear the word of the Lord. You say,
“‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’
17 “Therefore this is what the Lord says:
“‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword.
Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country.
And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’”
Amos was called by the LORD to speak truth – both calling out sin and calling the people to return to the LORD
Speaking truth from the LORD is not an easy task. It is one that we wouldn’t take on ourselves, but when the word of the LORD touches our heart, it becomes a must to proclaim. Amos was not popular for it, but he spoke faithfully.
We will not be popular, but we must speak the word faithfully. God’s truth is what people need. As blunt and as bold as it is and regardless of how well it be received, God calls us like Amos to “Go prophesy to my people.”
You may not be headed out to tend the sheep or take care of fig trees, but be open to the opportunities God presents to share his truth in love to the people around you, the people the LORD deeply loves and cares about.
Apply: Amos was a prophet without a pedigree. He is an example of how God can use ordinary people from ordinary walks of life to be his spokespeople. To whom is God sending you today?
Prayer: Lord, give me the words to speak and the courage to share them to whomever you know needs to hear them. AMEN.