“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.”
We simply do not want to hear it, especially when we are being called out. It is one thing to be wrong and admit it, but it is an entirely different thing when we habitually do wrong and shun the ones who bring us truth. Amos was one of those truth-telling prophets that the house of Israel could not stand. In fact, the priest Amaziah outright told him to leave and quit prophesying because he was continually telling them the truth; they were doing sinful things against the Lord and needed to repent before He turned His wrath against them.
Being a parent, we have seen this firsthand. You don’t have to be the parents of teenagers very long before their bravado oversteps their better judgment. Grace and truth, we always said. Grace to love them where they are, the truth to keep them on the right path. You cannot have one without the other.
Proverbs 26:11 says, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly.” Foolish rejection of the truth can be costly. It was for Israel. God chose to teach them a lesson and had the whole country exiled to Babylon, where they would learn the lesson of following false gods for over 70 years. Try that punishment on for size the next time you sass your parents.
Life will not be a bed of roses all the time. You will be tempted to sin; we all are. How you handle that temptation is where you grow in Christ or begin the foolish rejection of the truth. Before you know it, you will find yourself back at your same pile of vomit, arguing to everyone that it is the best place for you and to leave you alone. Sound familiar? Amaziah did that, and he was convinced that the word of God from Amos was not needed and should be rejected. Today, be careful to never shun the truth of God. It may not be fun to hear, but recovering in Christ is better than returning to the same pile of vomit you have been defending.
Prayer: Father, please give me supernatural eyes to see and supernatural ears to hear what the Holy Spirit is showing me and telling me. I pray that I will not turn a deaf ear to Your correction and commit to studying the Word of God daily to keep me from defending the same pile of vomit I have in the past, in Jesus’ name, amen.
Let It Go 
Leave a comment