Amos 7:14–17 (ESV)

Then Amos answered and said to Amaziah, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now therefore hear the word of the LORD.

            “You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel,
                        and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’

            Therefore thus says the LORD:

            “‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city,
                        and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword,
                        and your land shall be divided up with a measuring line;
            you yourself shall die in an unclean land,
                        and Israel shall surely go into exile away from its land.’”

When I picture this conversation, I can’t help but laugh. Previously, Amaziah had ordered Amos not to prophesy against Israel. So he knows that Amos is a prophet. He can’t just ignore Amos’s words. He respects Amos, even if he doesn’t like what he’s been saying.

So, picture the look on Amaziah’s face when Amos hits him with, “Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword …” His attempt at “persuasion” has backfired. Now that respect has turned to dread. What was he thinking?

He couldn’t have been thinking much. Prophets are unpredictable. They speak God’s mind, and we don’t know what that’s going to be until we hear it. If we’re trying to follow Him, we might get close though.

Amaziah had ordered Amos to not prophesy. His expectations weren’t going to be close.

Everyone who confesses Jesus as Lord tries to follow Him. This can get challenging. We want to go our own way, and that deafens us to His leading.

This passage begins with an interesting example of following Him—Amos’s call. He didn’t try to become a prophet and didn’t expect to be one either. Yet when God called, He obeyed.

The key takeaway is that being open to an unexpected call is essential to hearing it. My own call to write the DEEP came in unexpected ways. Every step was triggered by a negative event. Things went wrong.

I didn’t originate the DEEP, but the original author was pulled away by a ministry catastrophe and asked for someone to take it over. Later, a total website wipeout erased the DEEP from its original publishing venue, but Ailbe offered to host it. The rest is, as they say, history.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

The weekly study guides, which include the Monday–Friday devotionals plus related questions for discussion or meditation, are available for download here:

https://www.ailbe.org/resources/itemlist/category/91-deep-studies

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.