Cover of What Happens When God Interrupts Your Life?

What Happens When God Interrupts Your Life?

What Happens When God Interrupts Your Life?

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The surprising story of Amos and the moment God called an ordinary man into an extraordinary assignment.Most of us have some idea of how our lives are supposed to unfold.We have work to do, families to care for, bills to pay, and ambitions we hope to fulfill. We try to live faithfully before God while pursuing the opportunities in front of us.And there’s nothing wrong with that.But occasionally, in the Bible, something remarkable happens. God reaches into someone’s ordinary life and gives that person an assignment they never anticipated.That’s what happened to Amos.A man with a life of his ownAmos lived in the eighth century BC, when Israel was divided into two kingdoms. He came from Tekoa, a small town in Judah, south of Jerusalem.He wasn’t a priest. He wasn’t a member of the religious establishment. He wasn’t even from the northern kingdom of Israel, where God would eventually send him.Amos worked with livestock and tended sycamore-fig trees. He had a livelihood. Presumably, he had customers, responsibilities, relationships, and plans for the future. It was most likely the life he inherited from his father and grandfather. We know very little about his personal circumstances, but there’s no reason to imagine that he was sitting around waiting for a spectacular religious career to begin.He had a life.And then something happened to reorient him.God called him to leave his familiar world and travel north with a message that powerful people would not want to hear. He was untrained for this responsibility.An unwelcome visitor at BethelThe northern kingdom was enjoying a period of relative prosperity under Jeroboam II. The wealthy were accumulating property, business was booming, and the religious institutions were operating at full capacity.When God looked down at this prosperous nation, he saw a completely different picture.The rich were exploiting the poor. Courts decisions were for sale. The outward show of religious worship continued, but the moral character of the nation was deteriorating. They didn’t love him. They were not committed to follow his ways. They used worship as insurance against bad things happening and to try to tilt the scales of luck in their favor. Amos arrived with a devastating message: God had seen what was happening, and judgment was coming.As you might imagine, he was particularly unwelcome at Bethel, one of the kingdom’s principal religious sanctuaries.There he encountered Amaziah, the priestly institution keeper of Bethel.Amaziah regarded Amos as another itinerant religious professional, someone who made his living delivering theatrical “prophetic” messages.And he wanted him gone.In Amos 7:12–13, Amaziah tells him:“Get out of here, you seer! Go back to Judah. Earn your living prophesying there. But don’t prophesy here anymore. This is the king’s sanctuary.”You can hear the contempt. Take your business somewhere else. We don’t need your show. You’re not welcome here.But Amaziah had completely misunderstood Amos.This isn’t my businessAmos responds with one of the most revealing descriptions about calling in the entire Old Testament.He says:“I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I 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.’” (Amos 7:14–15, NIV)What an answer. Amos wasn’t pursuing a religious career.He hadn’t inherited the family prophecy business. He wasn’t trying to build a reputation as a spiritual authority. He hadn’t traveled north because he saw a promising market for his services.“You think I wanted this?You think I came here to make money?I was perfectly occupied with my own life. God sent me here.”Amos’s courage and spiritual authority rested on the conviction that God had personally commissioned him.When God interrupts an ordinary lifeThis is a pattern we encounter repeatedly throughout Scripture.* Moses was tending sheep when God confronted him at the burning bush.* Gideon was threshing wheat when an angel announced that God had an assignment for him.* David was looking after his father’s sheep when Samuel arrived to anoint Israel’s future king.* Mary was a young woman in Nazareth when Gabriel announced that her life would take a direction she could never have imagined.These people were not all seeking public prominence or extraordinary responsibility.Their assignments came looking for them.That raises an interesting question about the way we understand calling.We sometimes use the word to describe our occupation, our personal ambitions, or the work we find especially meaningful. “I found my calling.” Fair enough. Our ordinary work can be deeply significant before God.But Scripture also describes another kind of calling: a particular commission, arising from God’s initiative, that redirects someone’s life toward an unexpected responsibility.And these assignments are not ...
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