| “For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” |
| —2 Peter 1:21 |
Have you ever begun a task thinking that you had no real idea what you were doing? As you worked at that task, you begin to feel more confident. You continued with the task, brought it to completion, and when you looked back at what you had accomplished you were surprised that you had done so well what you had done. You thought, “How did I ever do that?” Perhaps, you had supernatural help along the way.
When I was studying the subject of “Writing” in college, we writing students were required to write something every day, seven days a week, including during holidays, vacations, and other times when most students got a break. Each piece we wrote was painstakingly edited by whichever writing professor was teaching a particular course.
At first, most of us chaffed against the idea that we had to write something every day. We also had numerous term papers required in our other classes. So, our “writing load” could get quite heavy at times. The only other students who seemed to have an even greater load were the music students who had to practice, practice, practice, and practice some more.
Many times I would sit down at my typewriter—for this was long before the age of the personal computer—and wonder what in the world I was going to write about. Then, as I started to type, some idea would flow out of me from a source that I did not know I even had. It didn’t take long for me to recognize that God was helping me in the way that is unique to Himself. He would give me some idea and then help me develop that idea into a written piece. Eventually, I learned to sit down and say—sometimes out loud—“Okay, God, what are we going to write about today?”
So it was with the prophets. Even when they may have thought they had a particular message they wanted to share, God would always give them His words to speak to the people. If we doubt this, we only need to read the Book of Jonah. The last place in the world that Jonah wanted to go was Nineveh. But God intervened and Jonah ended up in Nineveh. Then, God gave Jonah exactly the message that He wanted Jonah to share. In case you don’t already know how this story ends, I’ll stop and, if you wish, let you read what the Book of Jonah narrates, so you can see what happened next.
The Apostle Peter acknowledges this supernatural intervention of God with these words found in 2 Peter 1:21:
For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
Today, as we go out into the world, let us recognize that we do not need to go with a scripted speech to share with others. Yes, we need to daily meditate on God’s written Word and pray for Him to help us. But, when it comes to meeting with the people who cross our pathway in the normal course of life, God will nudge us by the Holy Spirit when we should gently and carefully share a word from Him. And, He will give us exactly what we need to say.
We can take great comfort from knowing that God preserves His written Word through the way He engages with those of us He has called to represent Him to a world that desperately needs to hear what He wants them to hear.
Based on a blog originally posted on Monday, October 30, 2017
