Amos 7 (5)

Pray Psalm 139.1-5.
O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.

Sing Psalm 139.1-5.
(Ripley: Hallelujah! Praise Jehovah, O My Soul)
You have searched me, LORD, and known me, when I sit and when I rise;
from afar, my thoughts discerning, all my path before You lies.
Every word, before it’s spoken, You behold and know it well.
Both behind me and before me, Your sweet Presence I can tell!

Read and meditate on Amos 7.1-17; meditate on verses 14-17.

Preparation
1. How did Amos respond to Amaziah’s threat?

2. What would be the result for Amaziah?

Meditation
Amos’ response to Amaziah’s threat was straightforward: God called me to this. Take it up with Him.

Amos explained that he was not trained to be a prophet, as in one of the schools of prophets mentioned in the Old Testament. He wasn’t even the son of a prophet. Rather, he was a farmer, a herder of sheep and “a tender of sycamore fruit”, as we have seen. His only credential for this work was that God had called him.

But the Lord took him—seized him, laid hold on him, compelled him, and gave him a burden for the nation of Israel. He was to prophesy against them and that profusely, not merely an occasional dripping (v. 16). Open the spigot of the Word of God and drown the people in His words of judgment. That was Amos’ call, and he would not back down from it or be intimidated by some false priest or disloyal king.

As for Amaziah, he would learn the hard way that the Word of the Lord is true and powerful (v. 17). He would see his family disgraced and destroyed before he himself would be taken captive to die in a foreign land. The moral: Those who try to interfere with the Word of God or to intimidate His servants will find they have to deal with Him, and that, as we know, is a fearful thing indeed (Heb. 10.31).

Like Amos, each of us has a calling from the Lord. We must make sure we know this and that we, like Amos, are faithful in pursuing it.

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Amos went from humble disclaimer to bold claimer!
“I was no prophet, nor was I a son of a prophet…” (Amos 7.14).
However, “Hear the Word of the LORD…!” (Amos 7.16).

It was said of two men who turned the world upside-down for Jesus:
“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John,
and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled.
And they realized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4.13).

It matters not to God what kind of education or background we have,
because what makes the difference is being with Jesus.

God’s power changes us from being disclaimers—to claimers.
We now have the credentials to say, “Hear the Word of the LORD!”
The syllabus for training is the Bible.
The power to understand and do it is the Holy Spirit.
Prayer is the study hall of waiting and listening.
The love and appreciation we have toward Jesus is the heart of it.
And the fear, love, and respect we have toward God is the impetus for it.
Our new life in Christ—workers in His Kingdom, for His glory—is our joy.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new…now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us; we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5.17, 20).

Called to our Personal Mission Field: “Go, prophesy to My people…” (Amos 7.15).
Let’s not be silenced by those who don’t want to hear the Word of the LORD.
Or who think we are not capable or professional enough to say it.
But let’s get right to work, just like Amos and Peter and John, and speak Words of eternal life.
What else is there to say? And really, to Whom else can we, or anyone else go? For we “have come to believe and know that [Jesus] is the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Jn. 6.68, 69).

God says to us, “Go, prophesy”.
We respond obediently, “Yes, we will”.
And we pray imploringly to Him, “It is time for You to act, O LORD,
for they have regarded Your law as void” (Ps. 119.126).

Teamwork at its best!

Reflection
1. What does it mean for you to “go prophesy”?

2. Why do some people just not want to hear the Gospel? What should be our approach with them?

3. Amos was certain of his calling. How can we be sure about what God is calling us to do?

Amos says that he was not of that class. He indeed honestly confesses that he was an illiterate man: but by this as I have already said, he gained to himself more authority inasmuch as the Lord had seized on him as it were by force, and set him over the people to teach them: "See, thou shalt be my Prophet, and though thou hast not been taught from thy youth for this office, I will yet in an instant make thee a Prophet." John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Amos 7.14

Pray Psalm 139.23, 24.
Spend some time in listening prayer, asking the Lord to clarify your own calling and to renew your commitment to fulfill it. Ask Him for specific steps to take today.

Sing Psalm 139.23, 24.
(Ripley: Hallelujah! Praise Jehovah, O My Soul)
Search my heart, O LORD, and know me, as You only, LORD, can do.
Test my thoughts and contemplations, whether they be vain or true.
Let there be no sin in me, LORD, nothing that Your Spirit grieves.
Lead me in the righteous way, LORD, unto everlasting peace!

T. M. and Susie Moore

If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from theNew King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are fromThe Ailbe Psalter.