Monday, December 11, 2017

About What The Prophets Have To Say - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in 2 Chronicles 18:13,

"As surely as the Lord lives, I can tell him only what my God says."

When the prophet Micaiah was brought before northern Israel's king, Ahab, and southern Judah's king, Jehoshaphat, as they sought the Lord's counsel on whether to go to war against Ramoth Gilead, he was advised by the messenger who was sent to retrieve him to agree with what the false prophets were already advising the kings.

Micaiah's response was noteworthy, "I can tell him only what my God says."

Peter instructs us about the various prophets who penned the words of Scripture. In 2 Peter 1:20-21 he says, "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation of things. For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."

This instruction from Peter on the nature of prophecy comports well with Micaiah's response so many years earlier. It provides us the grounds for our confidence in all that we read in Scripture. All Scripture has its origin in prophets who were "carried along" by the Holy Spirit.

As such, Scripture is truthful in all it says. It is trustworthy and an accurate telling of things. It is authoritative as it comes from God himself. It is intentional and possesses all the Lord wants us to know of things. It teaches us of things we could not otherwise know of the Lord. Importantly, it tells us how we can come to know the Lord, how we can find our way into his family and experience an eternity spent in the pleasures at his right hand, Psalm 16:11.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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