SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/2/2015
11:17 PM
My Worship Time
Focus: God called Amos
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Amos 3:3-8
Message of the
verses: “3 Do two men walk together
unless they have made an appointment? 4 Does a lion roar in the forest when he
has no prey? Does a young lion growl from his den unless he has captured
something? 5 Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground when there is no bait
in it? Does a trap spring up from the earth when it captures nothing at all? 6
If a trumpet is blown in a city will not the people tremble? If a calamity
occurs in a city has not the LORD done it? 7 Surely the Lord GOD does nothing Unless He reveals His
secret counsel To His servants the prophets. 8 A lion has roared! Who
will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken! Who can but prophesy?”
It could be at this point that the people were wondering
who this shepherd was and why he had the right to speak to them the way that he
was. We read in the seventh chapter that
the king of the Northern Kingdom, King Jereboaman’s chaplain told Amos to go
home and preach in Judah: “10 Then
Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying,
"Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel; the
land is unable to endure all his words. 11 “For thus Amos says, ’Jeroboam will
die by the sword and Israel will certainly go from its land into exile.’" 12
Then Amaziah said to Amos, "Go, you seer, flee away to the land of Judah and there eat bread and
there do your prophesying! 13 “But no longer prophesy at Bethel, for it
is a sanctuary of the king and a royal residence." 14 Then Amos replied to Amaziah, "I am not
a prophet, nor am I the son of a prophet; for I am a herdsman and a grower of
sycamore figs. 15 "But the LORD
took me from following the flock and the LORD said to me, ’Go prophesy to My
people Israel.’ 16 “Now hear the word of the LORD: you are saying, ’You shall
not prophesy against Israel nor shall you speak against the house of Isaac.’”
We in the USA have probably heard of preachers like D. L.
Moody and Billy Sunday who held great revival meetings in their time but when
they first got started perhaps people did not want to listen to the either, and
perhaps it was because of their backgrounds.
However the Lord had called them to preach no matter what their
backgrounds were and people did listen to them.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “Amos replied to their ridicule by
arging from effect to cause. If two
people want to walk together, they have to appoint a time and a place to meet
(Amos 3:3). If the lion roars, it’s
because he’s caught his prey (v. 4). If
a trap springs, it means the bird has been caught (v. 5); and if the people I a
city are terrified, it’s because the trumpet has blown, warning them of danger
(v. 6). These are obvious facts of life
that any thinking person would acknowledge.”
Here is the final thrust that is given and it is that if
an untrained rustic farmer is preaching God’s Word, it means that God is the One
who called him to preach. We can be sure
that this was not a vocation that Amos would have chosen for himself, yet when
he heard the Lord call him to go and preach that is what he did. Amos tells them “I was neither a prophet nor
a prophet’s son, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig
trees. But the Lord took me from tending
the flock and said to me ‘God prophesy to my people Israel’ (7:14-15).
We will conclude this section in our next SD.
9/2/2015 11:36 PM
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