True Messengers – Toni Babcock
“I did not send out these prophets, yet they ran. I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. If they had really stood in my council, they would have enabled my people to hear my words and would have turned them away from their evil ways and their evil deeds.” (Jeremiah 23:21-22 CSB)
There’s just as much truth in what’s not being said in this passage as there is in what is being said. Examine the words carefully: “If they had really stood in my council, they would have enabled my people to hear my words…” The implication being, any prophet self-led or self-interested, will ultimately fail to open up spiritual ears to the truth of God.
The prophets in Jeremiah’s day were soothing the people with smooth words that were failing to break them from sin. They were fabricating a narrative pleasing to hear, but ineffective in opening the ear of faith that would lead to true repentance. We should ask ourselves, who are the messengers we listen to? Do they stir up our faith to seek to live righteously?
There’s also a kind of ‘falseness’ that’s a stumbling block, even if a prophet’s words speak true. It’s expressed through actions that speak louder than words. Some may argue, “The action of the messenger shouldn’t matter. ‘Truth is truth’. The listener bears the weight of responsibility to hear truth and live righteously, regardless of the messenger.” Yet it’s quite possible a messenger can be so selfish and live so hypocritically – this is all people can hear.
That messenger is not standing in God’s council, and closes the heart instead of opening the ear of faith. The Lord said, “If they had really stood in my council, they would have enabled my people to hear my words…”
In spiritual matters, the weight of responsibility appears to rest on the messenger. As messengers, are we standing in God’s council and enabling people to hear?
Toni M. Babcock is author of Reflections from the Heart in Light of the Gospel of Jesus, and The Stone Writer. Contact
