Amos 1-9, Obadiah, Jonah 1-4, and Micah 1-7

Welcome to WEEK 51!! I can’t believe we’ve made it this far in this journey but am so happy that we did this 10,000 foot overview together.

As excited as I am to be one week away from reaching our goal- I’m a little let down with where we’re ending this journey. We’ve had so many history lessons. We’ve learned about the life of Jesus and His apostles. We’ve examined the Old Testament rules & laws. So to end it reading the prophecies that seem a little repetitive, is kinda anticlimactic, but nevertheless who am I to question- this is the content sent from God, so it’s not my place to do anything other than read & study the word of God.

My takeaway in Amos is more on the who than the what of the content. Amos was a shepherd. Regardless of whether or not he was comfortable or good at his job, his job was in the field with sheep- not in the city preaching to the people and being confronted by the priests & government. So I’m imagining that this calling from God, was outside of his comfort zone. This was putting Amos into a position that I’m guessing he had never been in before. And in this chapter- we aren’t hearing that Amos questioned, we aren’t hearing that Amos pushed back and said “hold on, me? Surely not me, God!” All we see here is who he is (a shepard) and that he went and spread God’s word.

So let’s contradict that account with Jonah’s. Jonah does say “yeah no thanks; I’m good; don’t really want to push my comfort zone right now” and we see what happens to him, right? Do y’all watch Good Girls? I’m a little embarrassed to say, this is one of the shows my husband and I watch after the kids go to bed. So basically if one of the “workers” says nah, I’m good; the main guy is going to “take care of” the person saying no and causing the problem. So rewind back to Jonah- how easy would it be for God to get irritated and “take care of” this problem child?! Could do it in a heartbeat, right?! But He doesn’t. He literally had Jonah delivered to the place He wants him via a “great fish” Now I don’t know about you, but I would much rather go willingly than be vomited up by a great fish and then still end up in the place I was trying to not go in the first place- at the end of the day I’m still there, and now I’m just covered in fish vomit. YUCK. So I guess my takeaway here- is how many times have I said no or hesitated, just to end up in God’s “where” for my life- but now covered in fish vomit because I resisted His path to start with?! Wouldn’t it have been easier to just follow Abraham’s example and say “here I am Lord!” So as we are closing in on our goal of reading the Bible, cover to cover- I’m examining my where. What’s God’s “where” for my life?! Where am I supposed to be? And how can I get there without fish vomit and bring the most glory to our all-knowing, loving, Heavenly Father?!

What about you? What did you get from these prophets? New takeaways? New goals?