{"id":1493,"date":"2011-08-25T17:27:37","date_gmt":"2011-08-25T21:27:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=1493"},"modified":"2011-08-25T17:27:37","modified_gmt":"2011-08-25T21:27:37","slug":"understanding-the-prophets-prophetic-justice-unleashed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/08\/understanding-the-prophets-prophetic-justice-unleashed.html","title":{"rendered":"Understanding the Prophets–Prophetic justice unleashed"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>All my adult life, I’ve used a simple plan to facilitate my daily devotions to study and read the scriptures.\u00a0 Sometimes it was reading three chapters\u00a0a day, five on Sunday.\u00a0 Later, it became four chapters a day, none on Sunday.\u00a0 Now, it’s four chapters each day, including Sundays.\u00a0 I study what catches my spiritual eye and what I need for my teaching and sermon preparation.<\/p>\n

The Old Testament prophets remained a mystery to me for almost 15 years.\u00a0 I’d read, study, ponder.\u00a0 But their message escaped me.\u00a0 Their eluded message\u00a0appeared to be\u00a0garbled and confusing.<\/p>\n

For about five or six years, when the months rolled around to study the prophets, I latched onto the parts I could understand and identify with:\u00a0 the judgment of God, the sin of God’s people, the wrath of justice meted out on people whom continuously reject the Word of the Lord.<\/p>\n

I grew to love and identify with the prophets.<\/p>\n

As I looked at the horrible conditions in churches throughout the world, my skin crawled with Jeremiah.\u00a0 I wept with anger and grief when I saw leaders abuse and hurt the people.<\/p>\n

I shared the pathos of Joel when he spoke of the coming wrath.\u00a0 Isaiah’s suffering servant became more than a picture of Jesus but a point of contact for the sheep in\u00a0many fellowships and my own concern for them.\u00a0 While the leadership was the focal point for most of my concern, the undisciplined, undiscerning hearts of God’s people frustrated me as I saw the truths of Zacheriah and Haggai, Amos and Malachi.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>A large portion of their prophetic word was still a haze.\u00a0 Yet, these men began to emerge as trusted comrades in my own search for a pure, righteous and holy Church.\u00a0 At times, it seemed that the prophets and I stood alone–the only ones unwilling to compromise the truths of God.<\/p>\n

Could my insight into the prophetic word I read be too limited and too narrow in scope?\u00a0 Somehow, I knew that my scope of understanding their words of corrections, were not\u00a0the end of the story.\u00a0 But I was left unable to turn the key to unlock the rest of their message.\u00a0 What has been your experience with the prophets?\u00a0 How well do you relate to their message?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All my adult life, I’ve used a simple plan to facilitate my daily devotions to study and read the scriptures.\u00a0 Sometimes it was reading three chapters\u00a0a day, five on Sunday.\u00a0 Later, it became four chapters a day, none on Sunday.\u00a0 Now, it’s four chapters each day, including Sundays.\u00a0 I study what catches my spiritual eye…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,20,40,186,49,258],"tags":[21,688,699,715,701,57,6,700],"class_list":["post-1493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-church","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-old-testament-prophets","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-faith","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-prayer","tag-simple-scriptural-truths","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nUnderstanding the Prophets-Prophetic justice unleashed - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/08\/understanding-the-prophets-prophetic-justice-unleashed.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Understanding the Prophets-Prophetic justice unleashed - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"All my adult life, I’ve used a simple plan to facilitate my daily devotions to study and read the scriptures.\u00a0 Sometimes it was reading three chapters\u00a0a day, five on Sunday.\u00a0 Later, it became four chapters a day, none on Sunday.\u00a0 Now, it’s four chapters each day, including Sundays.\u00a0 I study what catches my spiritual eye…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/08\/understanding-the-prophets-prophetic-justice-unleashed.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-25T21:27:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/08\/sandals212-300x224.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. 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