May 12, 2022 – David and Goliath

What Is Conventional Wisdom?

“ Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ Amos 7:14

“Understanding the power of the underdog requires an effort. It requires standing up to conventional wisdom. …look at the shepherd (David) and the giant (Goliath) and understand where power and advantage really lie. It matters, in a hundred specific and practical ways.” (David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell, p. 294) 

What Is Conventional Wisdom?

Many of the prophets in the Old and New Testaments were underdogs – many of them were misfits, outcasts, or at least the last person anyone would have thought would be prophets for G-d. And yet G-d used them to deliver G-d’s message of judgment, message of hope, and message of salvation. Amos is a great example. Here is a simple man of the earth – a dresser of Sycamore trees, and he becomes a voice crying out in the wilderness of affluence and greed. G-d sent warnings to Israel in the form of hunger, thirst, blight, locusts, plagues, and military defeat, but the people had refused to see his hand in these (Amos 4:6-11). Judgment must follow (Amos 4:12 through 5:20), and this punishment is portrayed in a series of verbal and visionary prophecies predicting wholesale destruction and exile.

Amos was not welcome where he was sent. He was an outsider and a simple person. But G-d sent him to denounce the social and religious corruption, and warn of God’s impending judgment. And like so many prophets before him the people turned a deaf ear, as they did to his contemporary Hosea. Anyone else may have realized their status, or lack of one, would hamper their efforts. Amos did not care. He was an underdog, but he went where he was sent.

My friends, stand up when asked to stand, proclaim when asked to speak, and go when summoned. And when you feel as if you are not fit, not equipped or too nondescript, remember, so were most of the prophets. They changed the world – so can you.

Let us pray,

Lord Jesus, I know I cannot change the world, today, but perhaps I can change one person’s world-view. Give me the stamina to continue to speak your love, mercy and grace, even when it reaches those who would rather not hear about your love. Amen.

Pastor Dave