- May 26, 2013
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Often times God would call a prophet who had trouble speaking and was very frightened of speaking publicly.
Moses stuttered and begged God put someone ahead of him to do the speaking.
Jonah was afraid to go to Nineveh, fearing the people would not hear him.
Jeremiah said, "I am only a child" not confident that he could confront the nation and speak stern words against it.
Isaiah entered into the presence of God and said, "Woe unto me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips."
What was different in the New Testament was the apostles who were very gifted and persuasive speakers, but of course, they had the greatest Teacher who they lived with, ate and slept with for over three years.
But the prophets of old were incredibly awkward. Elisha was mocked for being a 'bald head'. Isaiah went naked for 430 days. Ezekiel ate a.. something, you can read that one later. Amos was a simple countryman, a herdsmen, probably not what the enlightened cosmopolitan culture would think of as progressive. None of the prophets were 'ideal' in any true sense of the word.
Which is all the more the challenge for us when we see young, backwards, simple folk who speak in biblical proportions or with a similar conviction. The Judeans thought of the countryfolk, the unlearned in the synagogues, the outcasts like we do today.
Moses stuttered and begged God put someone ahead of him to do the speaking.
Jonah was afraid to go to Nineveh, fearing the people would not hear him.
Jeremiah said, "I am only a child" not confident that he could confront the nation and speak stern words against it.
Isaiah entered into the presence of God and said, "Woe unto me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips."
What was different in the New Testament was the apostles who were very gifted and persuasive speakers, but of course, they had the greatest Teacher who they lived with, ate and slept with for over three years.
But the prophets of old were incredibly awkward. Elisha was mocked for being a 'bald head'. Isaiah went naked for 430 days. Ezekiel ate a.. something, you can read that one later. Amos was a simple countryman, a herdsmen, probably not what the enlightened cosmopolitan culture would think of as progressive. None of the prophets were 'ideal' in any true sense of the word.
Which is all the more the challenge for us when we see young, backwards, simple folk who speak in biblical proportions or with a similar conviction. The Judeans thought of the countryfolk, the unlearned in the synagogues, the outcasts like we do today.