Lessons from an uneducated shepherd.

Our pastor has been walking through the book of Amos in our recent sermon series. I’m gonna confess that sometimes I don’t remember the message after I leave the pew. So, I thought it’s a good time for me to read through (and study a little) on my own, then go back and re-listen to the series. I want the Word of God to deeply touch and change my life, not just to let me warm a pew on Sunday mornings. BUT I’ve got to do the work. So…

As I was reading through a commentary to get an overview look at Amos, I once again was reminded that he was a farmer. That was his job. He wasn’t counted particularly as a “man of God”, or a man of renown for his prophetic abilities, nor was he even trained as a prophet. Did they even have Prophet Schools? If so, he never went. He was simply a shepherd.

But God had a BIGGER purpose in mind! 

My life is small, well, valuable but small.

Did you ever see You’ve Got Mail? I love that movie (and in case you didn’t notice, I find insight into the spiritual realm in all things mundane, even movie quotes!) There is a point in the movie where the heroine is talking about her small bookstore and the small impact it has made over the decades in her small neighborhood. And she says, “My life is small, well, valuable but small.”

I’m just gonna say out loud… THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH A SMALL LIFE! Most of us lead small lives. We have jobs, we may get married and have children, we go to church, we grocery shop, we might volunteer or go to a gym.

• Most of us are not millionaires.
• Most of us are not national or international speakers.
• Most of us are not household names via movies or TV or national bestsellers or music videos or social media influencers.

Most of us live small, quiet lives. And hopefully we are looking to live those small lives in obedience to God’s call on us – every day, every moment, in every encounter.

Our extraordinary God uses His ordinary children in supernatural ways.

My question to you (and for me) today is: do we KNOW that God sees your life as valuable? Valuable in a BIG way? Is there something that God is pressing on you to do or to be that you are thinking, “Oh no! I’m just a… (fill in the blank) – God can’t want me to do or be THAT!”

Remember, beloved, our lives are supernatural! We are part of His divine creation and order. We are children of the King. We are chosen, we are called, we are loved, we are redeemed, we are transformed, we are made new!

It should not surprise us when God reaches down from Glory to raise us up for a MAGNIFICENT work. He delights to use us to display His Glory. He used a very simple shepherd to proclaim His judgement and justice to rulers and kingdoms, and I’m pretty sure Amos never saw THAT coming! BUT the glory of God was displayed through the voice and obedience of that small life.

So when those extraordinary times come through our God using our very ordinary lives, REJOICE and accept His Big hand on our small lives as a declaration that we are HIS and HE is ours!