Lenten Devotions

Monday, February 18

Therefore because you trample on the poor and take from them levies of grain, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink the wine…Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
Amos 8: 11, 24

Have you seen that new series Eli Stone? It’’s about a lawyer turned prophet. It’s fanciful and creative and something you probably shouldn’t let your children watch without at least previewing it first. It has me intrigued.

Do you think we may have enough sense to feel a need for a good prophet? Do you think we might, as a culture, be able to look around and know that God couldn’t possibly be pleased? What would it feel like if God chose one of us to speak the Word of the Lord? What would we be called to do and to say?

We must remember that whether we are called to be a prophet or not, we do know that we are called to listen to the prophets, to God’s mouthpieces. Those people spent far more time describing what was happening in their time and how God saw that “happening” than they did predicting the future. Though it’s true, I think, that they could see ahead a little bit. Any good student of history knows that a civilization that oppresses the poor eventually collapses. We should be able to see that far ahead, shouldn’t we?

A Practice:

Choose one of the 12 minor prophets. (They are called minor only because their books are short.) Read one. Just sit down and read it. Personally, I recommend reading it out loud because that allows the Word to have breath and life. Pray that you will hear the Word of the Lord in and through those words, and see what happens.

You might consider what a prophet is. You might check out Eli Stone on abc.com. You might sit down and write a speech for a modern day prophet. What would God, the God you know and love, have to say to us through that person?

For more information or to continue the conversation, write to Katie at katherinekinnison@covenantpcusa.org.

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