Profiting from the prophets

Well this week in our Bible reading programme, we've been with Isaiah. And it's been interesting getting feedback, and realising that some people struggle sometimes with reading the prophets, while others seem to love it. There are all sorts of reasons for that, and all sorts of pitfalls when reading the Old Testament prophetic literature. (Eg, what should apply to us now, what applied to God's people in specific historic circumstances, does some of it apply to modern day Israel?). And there's no doubt that lengthy denunciations of sin can seem hard to digest after a while - though perhaps for precisely that reason we should let them do us good.

For me, the key to profiting from the prophets is to recognise that so much of their writing takes the form of poetry; and poetry is heart language. What we see above all in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Habbakuk, Hosea and their fellow prophets is God's heart. Often it is God's breaking heart because of the sin of His people. but even when there is apparent punishment being declared, the purpose so often is to cause the people of God to rediscover Him again, to turn from idolatry, immorality and injustice and rely on God again, to love Him in response to His love. The prophetic books are in many ways love letters - often sadly the letters of a lover who has been jilted - from God to His people, expressions of His heart. And as such they address us in a deep way, even when our external circumstances are vastly different to those of the original hearers and readers.