No Experience Necessary

Amos, the equivalent of a farm boy from the south who goes to a metropolitan city of the north to tell those city folks how to do their stuff, was a prophet in the day when Israel was divided into Judah, the Southern Kingdom, and Israel, the Northern Kingdom.  When he started preaching in Bethel, the center of that Northern Kingdom, he was told to go home by the priest, Amaziah.  Instead of going back south to the farm, he said, "I am no prophet, nor a prophet's son; but a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the Lord took me from the flock, and the Lord said to me, 'Go prophecy..."(Amos 7:14-15)  Amos did not see himself as one trained and prepared for what he was doing.  What he was doing was not his choice, but the choice of God.

 

And, so it is with any of the called people.  When I was pastoring churches and someone was needed to serve on a finance committee, we immediately thought of the accountants and the bankers.  Or, if there was a need for a Sunday School teacher, who could be better than a teacher in the local school system?  Seldom was any thought given to spiritual gifts.  God looks at those called differently.  Having experience in the field of service is not necessary.  Being skilled with what might seem to be the obvious expertise is not required.  In fact, it often seems that God prefers the inexperienced greenhorns.

 

The inexperienced are the ones who are more likely to realize that saying "yes" to the call of God is also going to mean depending on the power and the leading of God to get done whatever it is that He wants to get done.  God did not need young David to be a skilled soldier.  All he needed was a shepherd boy who knew how to use a slingshot.  Now, who would have thought such a skill was what was needed to slay a giant?  God knows what He can do with us if we are willing.  If we are willing, we are likely to be surprised at what gets done for the Kingdom through us.