The Prophetic —

As we continue to read through the Bible, this month we will delve into the books of the prophets. The Bible says that these prophets were called by God and spoke for Him. I believe them. They present us with interesting challenges as we pay attention to how they communicate the thoughts of God.

The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah, whom we will read about this month, lived at key moments of distress for their people. I really sympathize with them. The world right now seems to be in a real mess. Life seems so intensified by our ability to communicate news and ideas through personal technology.

I believe that we need a clear vision for our lives as human beings. If we don’t have this, life begins to fall apart in disastrous ways. Think of Canada, for example, who is looking to add minors into eligibility for medical assisted suicide. I never would have thought when I was in elementary school 50 years ago that we’d be here discussing the merits of killing sick children rather than fighting to save them or helping them to live as comfortably as possible.

In the Western world, it seems a rare thing to consider what God thinks of all this. We are too busy creating our own rights and wrongs to pay attention to His. It was very sobering to me to read a statistic about a mainline denomination in the USA that has lost over 2 million members in the last 3 years.

Again, I sympathize with Isaiah and Jeremiah, even in great distress there is still hope. God is still speaking. He is still moving. How does God articulate His plans in these seasons of life? What do the prophets of the Old Testament have to teach us about these times? The answer to these questions, and many more, are covered in our readings this month.