Pop-Up Prophets

There is a great value in "pop-up prophets." By that, I mean prophets who appear in the OT without any information regarding their lives. Men like Hosea, Joel, Amos, etc.

The reason I think that these books are so important is because many times we hear a message, read a book, listen to a song and immediately try to find as much as we can about the author's life and then make our analysis on the message based on the life of the messenger. When we do this, we lose a lot of valuable truth. Ask yourself honestly - how many times have you said, "I really don't like other things this person has said or revealed in interviews or the way that he lives his life" and therefore put down something that you initially found some value in.

With the 'pop-up prophets' we don't have that luxury. Here's the message, take it or leave it, but you don't have any information to accept or reject except for what is right in front of you. It's God's Word without any of the peripherals - just the way I like it. The pure truth.

For example, right now I'm reading the book of Joel and it's a little difficult, and I keep looking for something extra to help me understand what he's saying. When I finally relaxed and realized that there was nothing extra - we barely even have a hint at the context of the times he was writing in - then I had to settle down and study the message. I feel that's what God wants us to do - study the message and listen to it, learn from it, and obey it. (WHOA! hold on there big fella - it's one thing for our generation to study a message and sit in our enlightened Bible Study groups and rip it apart from every angle. But it's a whole other thing to expect us to get off our dusty butts and do it! I'm a thinker!!!)

Look - I'm not advocating simplistic Christianity. If God gives us places that we can dig - then it is our responsibility to dig. But sometimes He just lays out a message and says "Here it is!" Then over-analysis actually sucks the life out of it. So thank the Lord for the occasional pop-up prophet. The hit-and-run that leaves us nothing but the Word and no excuses not to do it.