You might find this short story intriguing, if you should find the time to hear it to the end. Once upon a time, Jesus faced a certain sect of meticulous fanatics that made a show of their piety, but with hearts out of proper place; fanatics who had mixed up the order of priority in their service to God and to humanity; Pharisees whose right acts were being soiled by a wrong heart. There were two general items on the discussion list with those fanatics: matters of righteousness and a matter of religious obligation; or personal acts of character and general acts of religious devotion; or inner integrity and outward show.
Month: October 2024
DO I NEED A PROPHET? (Part 2 of 2)
- When Interpretation is at Stake
In case anyone would argue that Saul’s case cited above was the exception for a young convert, let us consider the case of an ‘older’ covert, even a prophet. David heard the voice of God about a temple to be built for God. In fact, he received express structural and operational details on the temple project. However, he interpreted that to mean that he was to be the builder of the house whose vision he had seen. After all, he had the resources to do so. He heard God right but erred in interpretation. He was going to start the building project when God told him, through another prophet, that he had been wrong in his interpretation of what he had heard. His son Solomon would be the builder, not he. In other words, David, while he communicated with God and got such great details about the temple project, knew only ‘part’ of the whole of God’s infinite mind about that truth. It took a later encounter to let him know that all he had heard, grandiose at it was, was only ‘part’ of a greater whole.
DO I NEED A PROPHET? (Part 1 of 2)
- The Two Extremes
You probably have heard it said that everybody can hear God for themselves, so we do not need to be ‘running after prophets’ to seek the voice of God. Whereas that position is understandably an attempt to address the spiritual indolence of worshippers and sometimes the idolisation of the prophet, it is unfortunately one extreme attempt to correct the opposite extreme.
