God Takes Us as We Are to Make Us What He Wants
And the Lord took me as I followed the flock. (Amos 7:15)
Amos 7:10-17; Jer. 35:15; Ezek. 33:11; Acts 18:3; II Cor. 5:20; I Thess. 2:9
What Is God Saying?
Israel was in a season of national well-being. Jeroboam II was king, and the Northern Kingdom enjoyed an upturn of prosperity. Beneath the affluence, there was corruption and a collapse of moral standards. Jeroboam set up a calf image—the seeds of idolatry he sowed were bound to yield a grim harvest. But in the time of Amos, people were taking their ease. They were enjoying the pleasures of false freedom and fleeting prosperity. They were doing quite well without God, but underneath, they were rotten. No person or nation can go contrary to the laws of God in His universe without facing judgment, defeat, captivity, and death.
Amos was an ordinary person doing an ordinary job. God didn't need a great person with exceptional talents to warn His people. He required an honest person with extraordinary courage. Amos filled the bill. The king's chaplain told him to get lost, "Go back to Judah. We don't need your message, and we don't need you" (Amos 7:11 ff). In thirty years, Israel fell to the Assyrians. Forsaking God and turning a deaf ear to Amos' warning, there could be no other outcome. Israel was ripe for ruin, and it came.
How Does This Apply To Us?
In calling Amos, God took an ordinary shepherd to do an extraordinary job. He took him while he was busy. We need to remember that the principal ability God wants is availability. We must be faithful in humble tasks—nothing extraordinary, just the faithful performance of everyday duty. It is from this that God draws His best material. We are instruments of His blessing. We need only to be vessels that are clean enough to be used, empty enough to be filled, and never fancy enough to be admired. Read again II Cor. 4:7.
Pray With Me
Lord, You took Amos while he was busy doing his regular tasks. Let the power also come upon me while I am doing ordinary and necessary things. May I not disdain the humble task while searching for You in the heights. May I never grow restless because such labor goes unnoticed. Let me see Your glory in the commonplace. May I find Your blessing in the routine.
If I ever do some brave and noble thing, let it not be the fruit of selfish ambition nor the pressures of human pride. Help me follow the ordinary schedule of this ordinary day. Move me into Your plan so that I may know my life is not in vain but part of Your perfect design. Shelter me with Your love that my soul may find relief from the burning blasts of evil. Then, rested and restored, I will share the healing of Your grace with others. Give me the power to walk along the path that leads to Your glory. Keep me from other powers that seek to destroy our fellowship and put me out of step with Your purpose.
In the ever-blessed name of Christ. Amen.
Moving On In The Life Of Prayer
Let us be ready for God to use us in ordinary ways, doing ordinary tasks. His is the glory. We ask that He will take us from where we are to where He can use us to His glory and then, by His grace, to a reward that is better than we could ever imagine and more than we could ever deserve.
