Category: Holiness (set apart)

You all know that I started as a normal shepherd and fruit tree picker. I recognized the sinful habits the people of northern Israel had fallen into and it angered me. Then, I felt the Lord calling me, a quiet shepherd/farmer from the less sinful south to go preach to the more sinful north. So God sent me to Bethel to address Israel’s two main issues, their absence of true worship and a lack of justice. The people’s idolatry and selfish actions angered me so I preached of what it meant to care for your neighbor and how their idolization would bring destruction. My status of, not being from a line of prophets, was not in my favor. The people used this as an excuse to ignore my teachings and the false prophets tried to silence me. God called me from the less sinful south to prophecy to the very sinful north to carry a message of judgment to Israel. I was passionate about the wrongs of worshiping false idols and I had a heart for the oppressed so I was happy to go.

“The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.”

Amos ‭1:1‬ ‭

In the days that the Lord chose me He chose someone who was ordinary to do the extraordinary. He knew I would fumble and that the people would rebuke my words but he had a plan. So why would God choose someone that is so ordinary and have no history of prophets instead of picking a well- known person that the people would listen to? Well honestly I don’t know the answer to that but I think I might have an idea. He wanted to show the people that He uses the most ordinary people to do his works and through their trust they should be able to see God’s hands in action. So ya he could have chosen someone that they would have listened to but it wouldn’t have given them the opportunity to search out the truth. If God were to have sent a trusted prophet then the people would have just had the words handed to them but through me it gave them a challenge to see where God was in the midst of this. It challenged them to hear words from someone of “lower status” to see through that filter and understand God uses all people. We can see pretty clearly that God is full of surprises and by him picking the ordinary was definitely a surprise. The people wouldn’t expect a shepherd to show up in their city telling them they were going to be destroyed but the people couldn’t look past my social status and accept what the Lord was saying/warning and in the end it destroyed them both spiritually and physically.  By God picking me it showed that he saw the less known and that he continues to work in those that we sometimes forget about. God could have easily picked someone that was in a high social acceptance but he picked someone from a low society to speak words of wisdom and truth. Seeing that I had a heart for the oppressed I was excited to go and put people back in line so I picked up God’s call and went to Bethel. 

You’re probably wondering how in the world you can apply my story of being an ordinary shepherd to your life. Although, it’s quite simple. I’ve talked about how the Lord chose the ordinary to do the extraordinary and he continues that today. Although you may not be able to see it clearly I can sure tell you he is working. Ya maybe the Lord hasn’t called you as in big of ways like going to another place but he still calls us to be examples of his light and that’s a big task to handle. Today God is calling people all around the world from different backgrounds to be missionaries in other countries but he also is calling people in smaller ways like lending a hand to a neighbor who just lost her husband or helping the man at church who doesn’t know the language. God calls each of us in his own time and way. There is a special place for each of our helping hearts but we have to give up our hearts to Him to be a light. The people during this time were selfish and engulfed in self pride. They didn’t recognize that they were like everybody else. They ignored just about everybody “lesser” than them. Today I still see this. In the church and on the streets people are so enveloped in their self worth that they treat anyone that isn’t as cool as them like they are lesser. God tells us to love our neighbor and that we all are made equal. By God calling me it showed that God, highest of power, was calling someone that was of low power and it showed that even the God on high cared for the poor below. The people here did not recognize that and let the selfishness invade their spirits. It showed people that the mighty should work with the weak.