How do you look at yourself?
"Now hear the word of the
Lord!" (Amos 7:16). What God asks of you may not be what you or those
around you expect or even welcome at first. Listening for and following God's
words, though, will never steer you wrong.
Reflecting on Amos today, we can see
that he was considered obnoxious because he preached the need of repentance by
all in Israel ,
including the king and the priests. Amaziah tried to persuade the king to get
rid of Amos not only because he took his preaching as an insult, but because he
held Amos in contempt. He considered him a "nobody." And indeed in
comparison with Amaziah, the priest of Bethel ,
Amos was a nobody. He admitted that he was not a prophet, that he was nothing
more than a shepherd and a dresser of sycamores. He didn't even want the job of
prophet; he would have liked to be left alone, to stay in his comfort zone as
we say!