“I DESIRE ... RATHER THAT YE SHOULD PROPHESY”

A. B. Parker

Amos 7: 14–16 (first phrase)

We need greater liberty in the meeting for prophetic ministry. There are very few really who give a word on occasions like this. Paul in referring to the exercise of gift among the saints indicated that to prophesy was a great matter, above all to prophesy (1 Corinthians 14: 5).

Why should we not desire to prophesy? I believe that God would honour the desire to receive a word from Him that we can give utterance to to bring in His mind at any point; whether it be in times of stress or in times of prosperity, a word from God is needed, possibly more so in times of prosperity. We have seen recently in relation to Solomon that the greatest prosperity that Israel ever knew was in his day, and yet he turned aside from the will of God. David had Nathan and Gad because he appreciated the word of God and he would listen to what Nathan and Gad would say. And when Nathan said to him, “Thou art the man!” (2 Samuel 12: 7), he said, “I have sinned” (2 Samuel 12: 13), and immediately Nathan had the word, “Thou shalt not die”. Jehovah spoke to Solomon directly, He appeared to him, exhorted him to pursue the will of God, and not to turn aside from His commandments (1 Kings 6: 12). But he did. The prophetic word

is vital, and I think the more we appreciate it the more we will desire to have some little part in this matter of prophecy, not just to give a word. What is said may be very brief or very simple, but if it brings in the mind of God that is the great point.

So here was Amos. He apparently had no thought of prophesying; he did not regard himself as having any status or standing to do such a thing because he was not a prophet nor a son of a prophet; he was a herdman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit and God took him from following the flock. There is a man who is a herdman, but how does he fulfil his work as a herdman? He followed the flock. God took David from following and made him leader. It is a great matter to have the features of a follower. John refers to the Lord Jesus saying, “Follow me”, John 21: 19. Peter says, ‘What about this man?’ And what was that man doing? He was following Jesus. The Lord said, “If I will that he abide until I come, what is that to thee?

Follow thou me”; ‘You see to yourself’. Following the flock would be a test because it means that the flock sets the pace. Sometimes we try to hurry things, we are not patient enough.

This man would be patient; he would follow the flock; he would take account of the features of the flock; he would not overdrive; he was not out in front, he was following. And then he was a gatherer of sycamore fruit. I have wondered what this means, sycamore fruit; what is it anyway? In looking it up I found that it is a relatively small fruit. It would take a lot of patience to gather sycamore fruit. So whether it be in the appreciation of every little bit of evidence of the work of God in persons and the holding of it as of value in our souls, or whether it be taking account of the movements of the saints and following in view of preserving the flock in the right direction, not

allowing any to go astray, these were features that God could take account of. And He says, I will use you, Amos.

The service that Amos had to fulfil was a very, very disheartening one, because the book is full of the expression of God’s anger and His hatred of what the people were going on with, and He indicates to Amos the very details. Think of God saying to Amos that the people sell the poor for a pair of shoes (Amos 8: 6). Just think of how they regarded life amongst the brethren; unless you were somebody of importance they would sell you for a pair of shoes.

There is so much in detail that God says that you marvel that He takes account of these things happening amongst His people. But He knows in detail, and He knew that Amos would understand, because as Amos followed the flock he would watch everyone in the flock. He would see that none strayed away, he would see if one lingered and seemed ill, he would see if one was lamed by any matter, he would see if there was something approaching that would be dangerous. If he saw the wolf coming he would not flee. This is a man that God can take up. And who is there of us that would not desire to be like this? We do not have to be persons whose initials appear in the ministry in order to have these features.

Then we find the discouraging kind of ministry that the Lord gives to Amos to utter. How much better it would be, we might think, if Amos could say that God was going to come in and greatly prosper the people. Well, he did say that in the last chapter; that was a wonderful word that God gave him. He said in principle, Amos, you have been faithful in all that I have told you to utter and now I am going to give you the joy of saying what is going to happen to Israel in the way of blessing. Even though it has not come in yet—

the prophecy of Amos in the last chapter is still to come, still to be fulfilled—Amos was given the joy of being able to minister like that. It is wonderful to be able to minister things which cheer, and encourage, and strengthen the saints.

Well, that is the service of Amos. But he had feelings too, he did not merely say what God told him to say. God indicated to him that He was going to send the locusts and eat up all the latter growth that came up after the king’s mowings, after the harvest, this latter growth when things have been devastated, as we have seen it happen, and yet afterwards the Spirit of God working, a latter growth coming up in freshness and greenness, and God says, I am going to send the locusts to destroy it. The feelings of Amos could not be contained and he pleaded that it would not be so; he said, “How shall Jacob arise? for he is small”. And then God said He was going to send a fire and it was going to take away everything. Amos pleaded with God and then God says, It will not be. Think of how the feelings of Amos entered into these things. These are features that should characterise us, even though we are not thinking of ourselves as serving brethren. This man had no thought of being in the role of a prophet, but he was raised up for this purpose because of his fidelity, because of his constancy, because of his care of the flock, like Timothy of whom Paul could say, “I have no one like-minded who will care with genuine feeling how ye get on”, Philippians 2: 20.

So it is, dear brethren, that I just mention this in view of it being taken to heart and in view of there being a greater readiness on the part of persons here, brothers, to be free to participate when they have the consciousness of having something from the Lord which would help the dear brethren to proceed and be encouraged and have the strength to

meet conditions which arise and be pursuing faithfully to the end. May we be encouraged, dear brethren. I believe that the sisters too have a part in this, because while they do not prophesy in the meetings they can certainly bring in God’s mind in the home, and to encourage their husbands along these lines would be a very real service.

I believe if we are set therefore for the testimony, for the interests of the Lord, for the welfare of the saints, for the elimination of issues that are so vexatious and so tortuous in the way of bringing in feelings and divided outlook, that these things may be clarified, there may be a state that the Lord can take account of and He can say, That is a spot where I can bring a half-dead man, where he will be cared for and nurtured and where the numbers among the brethren will increase because material suited for the assembly is salvaged. May the Lord say, I have many that are in this state and I would like to bring them to you, but I would like conditions amongst you to be such that they will be nurtured and cared for and will get well and be normal assembly persons as the result of being cared for in the inn. May the Lord encourage us, dear brethren, for we need it.

Word in meeting for ministry, Brooklyn, N.Y.
14 August 1979