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"Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel ... said to Amos, 'O seer, go, flee away to the land of Judah, and eat bread there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is a temple of the kingdom.' 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."'" (Amos 7:10a, 12b-15 ESV)
Have you ever looked at your life and said, "God, I'm not the right person to be handling this?" I wonder if Amos said that to God. After all, He didn't go through seminary and learn how to be a prophet, the way normal people did it. He was a country man, someone who watched sheep and did a little tree care on the side.
And then one day God barged into his life and took him away to do something else—a different kind of shepherding, with much more ornery sheep. He sent him to speak God's message to the people of Israel, who had gone far away from the Lord and were doing all kinds of wickedness. As Amos put it, "they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals ... [they] trample the head of the poor into the dust" (Amos 2:6b-7a). I bet there were days Amos wished he was back with the four-legged sheep!
You might feel that way too, if God has set a challenge before you—whether it's in your family or in your work or something to do with the community in which you live. Because God has a habit of choosing the last person you'd expect for the job. I think He does it so we know how much we need His help. If we're aware of our weakness, we're going to lean on Jesus with all our weight—because we're desperate, and we have no other way to get through. And that's when God does His wonders.
Really, we shouldn't be surprised. Because this is the God who chose to deal with our broken world, not by terrifying miracles of power—but by coming Himself to deal with us, in person, as a human being. He came as a human baby, born away from home, and later on the run with His parents as a refugee in Egypt. He came to rescue us from the power of the devil and his angels—not through acts of power, but by laying down His own life on the cross in shame and pain. And they laid Him in a borrowed tomb.
And when they thought it was all over, Jesus rose from the dead, surprising everybody, and He promises to share that victory with us who believe in Him. Now that He has returned to the Father, He sends us out to do His work—us, weak and unlikely as we are. And He has given us His Holy Spirit to live in us and do His work through us.
We Pray: Lord, help me to see the work You have for me, and to trust You and step forward to do it. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Reflection Questions:
1. Have you ever faced a challenge you didn't feel prepared for?
2. How did you get through it?
3. How do you lean on God to help you with the challenges in front of you today?
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