In class we read Joel outloud letting the Spirit lead us to stop and go. Such a simple task like reading something out loud seemed easy enough, but after a while when each person read a certain passage, my heart felt as if it wasn't as simple nor easy to read it out loud.
If we take a look at the life of a prophet we know for certain that they are dedicated to the Lord. We know that they are bold and sold out for God. However, do we realize the pain and anguish they went through? Some prophets had families. And living in a community that only wanted to hear the good could leave to the prophet and their family in danger.
I think what is worse is the fact that the prophets feel legitmate burdens from God. We might today romanticize what a burden really is or at least a burden from God. I can imagine that the pain is intolerable to the heart. When a prophet spoke out to the crowd, they we're crying out for people to hear God! And in all reality God was speaking through the prophets right then and there.
Joel gave everything to the Lord and was mightily used. However it was not fame he recieved or even wanted. His heart was after God alone. Reading that book aloud had allowed me to get a small idea of such a hard job it was to be a prophet.
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I’ve never took into account the challenges the prophets had when they spoke the word of God to people I usually just read and try to apply the words to my own life but I’ve never stopped and looked at the lives of the authors.
ReplyDeleteGreat thoughts! I too felt it much more difficutl to read Joel out loud. As we read aloud during class I could just image Joel speaking this to the people around him. I thought about how powerful the words he spoke were and the impact it must have made on those who heard; the impact it makes on our own lives even now.
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