What are you reading right now? Summer tends to expose the need to read. Visions of vacation often include the idyllic setting – on a beach, at a lake, at the base of a mountain – with a good book in-hand. The average American starts 12-14 books each year, completing 4-5 of them. A quarter of us admit that their annual book consumption is 0. What are you reading right now?

For some, books are an escape; fiction opens one’s imagination – for a while – to imagine something besides the inescapable reality that surrounds them. History allows a similar out-of-body experience, with the possibility of lessons-learned at the expense of people now dead.

The wisdom of prior generations is often archived in print; great books allow memorable take-aways hidden in the myriad pages between the covers. Some examples:

“The more I read, the more I acquire, the more certain I am that I know nothing”
— Voltaire 

“The time is always right to do what is right”
— Martin Luther King, Jr.

“Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile”
— Albert Einstein

“Life is either a daunting adventure or nothing”
— Helen Keller

“Perpetual optimism is a force multiplier”
— Colin Powell 

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken”
— Oscar Wilde

Ask me: “What are you reading right now?” My answer – ongoing – is unchanging: The Bible. I read dozens of other books every year, alongside that. But find me about 5:30a any given day, and I’m somewhere between Genesis and Revelation.

With 1189 chapters – and my daily download of about five – it takes about eight months to go from “In the beginning, God…” to “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God’s people. Amen.” Then, flip back to the start and do it again…

Right now, I’m in the closing-stretch of Jeremiah’s record. As one of God’s prophets (c 650 – 570 BC), he was a stand-up guy in a stand-down generation. With Jewish leaders as his primary target audience, his messaging was never fun-and-fanciful; the forecast of dire outcomes for individuals – and the societies in which they lived – became his trademark posture. Not much upbeat motivational vibes…

It’s fascinating reading; I’d challenge you to drop-into that story and consider whether there are comparisons – from that troubled period to our troubled period – that warrant consideration.

In brief; here’s the scoop: generations before, God had communicated His truth to the Jews – His Chosen People – with instructions that were non-negotiable: live in accordance with His directions, and He would bless them from Heaven, with the benefits realized on Earth. The alternative: dismiss His word as irrelevant – sometimes through total ignorance and disregard, sometimes through knowing His expectations and dissing them in favor of divergent behaviors, resulting in God answering rejection with rejection, orchestrating the utter destruction that exhibited His judgement.

Prophets – like Jeremiah – were  intermediaries, standing between the unchanging God and the clueless humans. Leaders would come to prophets wanting to know what God was up-to, and what they could expect from Him in their future.

The response of the prophet(s): point back to the unchanging Word of God – in print – as the first source of insight. Then, appropriate to the situation, direct that God-sourced information into immediate application: here’s how to put His timeless instruction into action, in real-time, today. And, typically, they would end with revelation: if you don’t take Him seriously – demonstrated with obedience – your destruction will follow. Prophets weren’t popular… but they were profound.

What’s the take-away, for today? The Word of God is still the ultimate authority; everything starts there. If you don’t know it well, resource someone who does… and, who knows how to put His word into your thinking/speaking/doing, which represents obedience. Do that, and He blesses. Navigate without His timeless truth as your reliable resource and anticipate the consequences.

So… who plays the “prophet” role, for you?

Bob Shank