[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during June 2020]
There have been many recommendations for occupying oneself during lockdown and one of them was to try reading a new book. It was intended in a secular sense but it has a spiritual application too. This is the 109th reflection to be added to our online library and looking through the Bible passages that those reflections refer to has shown that Psalms, Matthew, Mark and John are the most popular sources but there is a group of Old Testament books that do not get a mention. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah and Haggai have all been overlooked by our writers (so far). Do these Old Testament prophets have nothing to say to us today? Maybe we should take a look.
However, before we do, let’s keep in mind two guiding factors. In his second letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul reminded him that “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness” – that includes the words of these bygone prophets. Secondly, Jesus himself referred to the writings of the prophets, not least in his conversation on the road to Emmaus where “beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself”.
So, with that in mind, who are these guys?
- Hosea’s family difficulties were used to illustrate the unfaithfulness of God’s people.
- Joel made an appeal for repentance, echoed by Peter in Acts 2.
- Amos warned of complacency amongst the Israelites.
- Obadiah rebuked those who stood by and did not help the oppressed.
- Jonah had a whale of a time on a mission trip to Nineveh.
- Micah fought against injustice and corruption.
- Haggai called for the reconstruction of the temple in Jerusalem.
So, go and check them out. Perhaps, if this period of lock-down continues long enough, we might indeed be able to occupy ourselves with a ‘new’ book.
~~~~~~~~
.
Return to Mid-week Meditations
Jump to Index of Bible Passages
.
Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author
