RESPOND TO HIM!

RESPOND TO HIM!

Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there. Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees. But the Lord took me from tending the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Now then, hear the word of the Lord. You say, “ ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and stop preaching against the descendants of Isaac.’ “Therefore this is what the Lord says: “ ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city, and your sons and daughters will fall by the sword. Your land will be measured and divided up, and you yourself will die in a pagan country. And Israel will surely go into exile, away from their native land.’ ” —Amos 7:12-17

Amos was shepherding sheep and an arborist when the Lord redirected his life. He was in the quiet shadows of life tending to sheep and caring for trees when he was given the directive to prophesy to God’s people Israel. This was quite a change for Amos. He was probably enjoying his work among the mostly compliant creation and now the Lord was calling him to work among people who were often not so compliant.

Sheep and trees don’t have tongues to speak rejection. They accept care and compassion very readily. People, on the other hand, can be cruel rejecters with no desire to receive anything from you. Not only that but so often they may tell you to stop what you are doing even though it was the Lord who told you to do it. They do not receive the authority that the Lord has given you to do what you were told by Him to do. They reject Him.

The Lord often calls people from their present vocation to serve Him in a new capacity. We may feel quite comfortable with our present job and enjoy it, but then He starts drawing us to follow Him in a new way. It is a decision we may not have intended to make. Maybe we thought we would be doing the present job for the rest of our working lives. Then, seemingly out of the blue, He redirects our lives in a totally different direction. I have seen Him do this in my own life and seek to be sensitive to His guidance wherever He may want to send me now. May I always seek to be open to His direction.

Is the Lord tapping on your shoulder to go in a different direction? Are you yielding to Him or are you resisting the change? You will only be the most fulfilled when you are obedient to His guidance. I pray that you will yield to His desires for you. May it be so!

Dear Father, may I run the race that You have marked out for me. Oh, that I would be sensitive to Your guidance as I run the race. Please help me not to get off course. May I stay on course, being and doing what You desire in the power of Your Hoy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1m_sWJQm2fs