Be Who You Are

Studying in the book of Amos last night.

Good stuff.

Never really got into the history of the book or the story of who Amos was or where he came from. but all that has changed.

I can relate to Amos.
He was a good ol' country boy.

Came from South of Jerusalem from a town called Tekoa.
Tekoa was pretty much a wide spot in the road. It was the jumping off place if you were riding a train.

Tekoa was so far out from civilization that if you blinked while driving through town, you'd missed it.
Amos was probably the only thing of recognition to every come from Tekoa.
God reached down to this far removed place, and laid hold of a man who'd speak His words.

A man who would go where God said to go. Such was the man Amos.

Amos was not full of himself.

When God called him, Amos did not rise up and say, "I'm shaking the dust off of me from this gritty, dirty little town and I'm moving on to bigger and better things." No.........Amos simply said, "Yes, Lord."

Amos was taken from the desolate little village of Tekoa, located in the Southern Kingdom and sent to Bethel located in the Northern Kingdom. He was sent there to speak the Word of God to King Jeroboam.

Bethel was the big city. Center for commerce, government and religion. King Jeroboam had erected golden calves for the people to worship at rather than have to make a journey to Jerusalem. Jeroboam had take the worship of God and melded and mixed it with other religions from the neighboring countries. Amos was going to warn King Jeroboam that God was going to come in judgment unless there was repentance.

Well, you can imagine what a field day the people of Bethel had with Amos. To them, Amos was a rube.......a redneck.........a hick..............a hayseed..........uneducated and unlearned. He was ridiculed and called names. The priest of Bethel, Amaziah told Amos to go back home. Called him a "seer" using it as a derogatory name. Making fun of Amos.

Amos' answer is profound if you really stop to read it.

Amos 7:14-15

Then Amos answered, and said to Amaziah: "I was no prophet, nor was I a son of a prophet, but I was a sheep breeder and a tender of sycamore fruit.

Then the Lord took (called) me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me, 'Go prophesy to My people Israel.'

Amos tells Amaziah, "Yo....I am only doing what God told me to do." Amos didn't have any credentials or degrees or a formal education. There were a million reasons why Amos shouldn't be the one delivering God's message. But there was one reason that superseded everything the world would deem as being acceptable for such a task. That one reason is that God called Amos.

How many words from God have I rejected because I didn't like the package it was delivered in?
How many people has God placed in my path that I failed to heed because they didn't look like someone who would speak on God's behalf. I'm telling you right now, when God speaks it doesn't always come through a college-graduated-smooth-talking-good-looking man or woman. It comes from the down and out. The simple. The pure of heart.

Don't get me wrong.
I'm not discounting and throwing away everyone who seeks an education. I'm just saying that education and style cannot be the measure of whether or not someone speaks for God.

I see advertisements for major conferences all over this country. It will list the speakers who will be there and usually this if followed by the speakers resume' or accomplishments. If Amos had been invited to speak, his list of accomplishments would be pretty small.

Guest Speaker: Amos

Sheep breeder from Tekoa.

Fig picker.

Followed God.
Spoke for God.

Yet that is the heart of God's kingdom. Taking the very ones who no one would pick, then empowering them to go and speak for God. Hmmmm. Maybe you fit that mould. I know that I do.

Until next time....
God on you..........

mb