When God's Message Stings

 

Wednesday, February 17, 2021

“Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast.  Shout aloud!  Don’t be timid.  Tell my people Israel of their sins!  Yet they act so pious!  They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me.  They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God.  They ask me to take action on their behalf, pretending they want to be near me.  ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.  ‘Why aren’t you impressed?  We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’  “I will tell you why!” I respond.  “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.  Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers.  What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling?  This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me.  You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind.  You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes.  Is this what you call fasting?  Do you really think this will please the Lord?  “No, this is the kind of fasting I want:  Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you.  Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.  Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless.  Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.  “Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal.  Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.  Then when you call, the Lord will answer.  ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.  “Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.  Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!  Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble.  Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.  The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength.  Isaiah 58:1-10

Isaiah was a priest to the rich and powerful people who ran things in Jerusalem.  His voice stung like a scorpion in the wilderness as he preached a message nobody wanted to hear.  Truth be told, nobody wants to hear a prophet with a stinger-tail.

Jeremiah was a weeping prophet because Israel needed someone to weep for their sins.  Amos called the refined ladies of the king’s palace fat cows[1].  They lived lavishly while the ordinary citizens were starving.  And John the Baptist?  Well, the poor listened, but the powerful plotted…and had his head on a platter!

There is little about being a prophet that is attractive to those who value an easy life, career advancement, and perks.  Mainly, the job description calls for telling those who have those values that their whole existence stinks in God’s nostrils; and then they kill you.

And yet, Isaiah says, don’t be timid…speak the tail of the scorpion out clearly and don’t hold back!  Be like a trumpet blast…tell Israel of her sins! 

For a prophet there can be no other choice. 

·       Jonah found that out when he tried to run away from his appointment to Nineveh.  God arranged a submarine ride back to the mission field. 

·       Elijah trembled in the face of adversity, hid in a cave, and hoped to die before ever seeing Jezebel again; he didn’t die, but God’s Word prevailed, and Jezebel’s corpse was eaten by dogs. 

Considering a prophet’s calling, and that for which God always seems to employ His prophets, what would today’s prophet say of America? 

·       Would he be like Jeremiah, the weeping theatrical prophet, dressing in swaddling clothes, and hacked to pieces by an abortion provider?

·       Would he be like Isaiah or Samuel, marching into the White House and Congress with a list 7 times longer than Martin Luther’s 95 points of the sins of leaders?

·       Would she instruct like Priscilla, telling all the so-called pandering preachers, insipid messengers of prosperity and fluff, to cease their endless petting of evil, and start calling our nation to repentance?

Would to God we would see that.

For You Today

If the day of God’s prophets is ended, what hope is there for humanity and righteousness? 

None, I suppose, except, Revelation’s final message, even so, come, Lord Jesus.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

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[1] Amos 4:1

 

A Broken Prophet

Title Image:  Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

There he came to a cave, where he spent the night.  But the Lord said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  Elijah replied, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty.  But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets.  I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”  “Go out and stand before me on the mountain,” the Lord told him.  And as Elijah stood there, the Lord passed by, and a mighty windstorm hit the mountain.  It was such a terrible blast that the rocks were torn loose, but the Lord was not in the wind.  After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.  And after the earthquake there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire.  And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper.  When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.  And a voice said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”  He replied again, “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty.  But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets.  I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”  Then the Lord told him, “Go back the same way you came, and travel to the wilderness of Damascus.  When you arrive there, anoint Hazael to be king of Aram.  Then anoint Jehu grandson of Nimshi to be king of Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from the town of Abel-meholah to replace you as my prophet.  Anyone who escapes from Hazael will be killed by Jehu, and those who escape Jehu will be killed by Elisha!  Yet I will preserve 7,000 others in Israel who have never bowed down to Baal or kissed him!” 1 Kings 19:9-18[1]

Salmon swim many hundreds of miles to return to the birthplace of their hatching.  Some species live up to a dozen years, others only two or three…IF they manage to avoid hungry bears and make the full cycle.  It seems kind of a pointless existence, hatch, swim, spawn, die. 

And that may have been Elijah’s problem.  He’d had the courage to stand toe to toe with 850 false prophets of Baal and Asherah on Mt Carmel.  Then he realized the head of the serpent (Jezebel) was still sharpening her fangs.  Elijah managed to hack eight hundred bad guys like Rambo on steroids, but he spooked at the thought of one evil woman.  And he felt alone, like John the Baptist, a lone voice crying in the wilderness.  He ran like a frenzied daughter of mine used to run from anything with 8 legs.  Huffing and puffing Elijah returned to his place of safety…God’s mountain…and hid in a cave, shivering more from fear than cold. 

God spoke to the prophet once he settled down enough to hear the small voice after the thundering storms, earthquake and fire.  Whispering, God instructed Elijah how to wind-down his ministry and set the stage for God’s next cycle.  Elisha would take over, and the other kings Elijah anointed would accomplish God’s plans.

A few timeless lessons today from Elijah’s faith (and faults):

1.     God always has His people, no matter what it looks like

2.     No life is worthless when the knee has been bent in reverence to the LORD.

For You Today

So, if you’re facing a fang-bearing queen, or 850 false prophets, here’s the game plan:  make it a fair fight; tie both your hands behind your back, kneel and bow your head, and laugh in the face of all of it; God’s got this, your job is to trust Him!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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[1] For another post on Elijah’s predicament see Chosen...Still!