Deuteronomy 18:15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.

Because of the explicit singular in this verse, many have taken it to be a Messianic prophecy, but the following verses seem to apply to prophets in general. At this point we have the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, so the matter of a specific spokesperson for God is not nearly as urgent. That said, the writer of Hebrews got it right: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.” (Hebrews 1:1-2) In the case of Jesus, we don’t have to worry about the details given in verses 21-22, about how to respond to false prophecy. Everything Jesus said was and is perfectly true and certain! All of that said, we still have the issue of hearing and understanding accurately. People have misunderstood what God was saying ever since the Garden of Eden! We need to focus on personal humility, not filtering what God is saying through our own personal desires and ambitions. When that is our attitude, we will hear Him with a high degree of consistency.

As a pastor, one of my chief desires is for the believers to learn to listen to God. I frequently tell them that God is speaking to them, if their hearts are open, but modern society has taught them that such things are fantasy, or even hubris, that the Creator would speak to them. We have such trouble grasping that God really is omnipotent and omniscient, and He actually cares about each one of us individually. We aren’t necessarily of such huge importance, but He cares about us as though we were. We think we want to be independent, but our greatest liberty is when we are totally submitted to our Creator! I need to model this attitude for the believers to see, because imitation is much easier than learning in other ways. I don’t – I can’t – get it perfectly right myself, but I am very much in Paul’s territory here, urging others to copy me even as I seek to copy Jesus. (1 Corinthians 11:1) The good news is that it’s the Holy Spirit’s business to make it all possible, so I just have to be filled with and submitted to Him.

Father, thank You for this reminder. Thank You for all that You do in and through each of us. May we be a people fully obedient and pleasing to You, doing Your will on Your schedule for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!