Devotion - Tuesday, October 25

The Tuesday Night Bible Study Group is making our way though the minor prophets.  These are the twelve books at the end of our Old Testament, which occasionally show up in the cycle of Sunday readings, but are seldom read from start to finish.  There may be more than one reason why these books don't make it to the top of our devotional readings.

They tend to be rather dark and alarming.  For the most part, these twelve servants of God were pointing out the ways in which the people of God have abandoned God's word and God's way.  For the mos part, these twelve prophets were pointing out that the culture no longer reflected the promises of God but was consumed with self-advancement and amassing more and more wealth.

This may be a great time to be reading these twelve books.  Every four years we complain about the extended election cycle, but a least during this period of time we are asked (and sometime asking) about the direction of our country and our culture.  These twelve books have something to say to us.  They have many things to say to us.

Unlike other portions of the bible which are more easily reduced to individual piety issues, the Minor Prophets ask us to look at the culture around us and ask whether we as a people are doing God's will.  It isn't enough that the prophets themselves are hearing God's word and doing what God asks; these prophets challenge us to examine how that devotion is affecting those around us.  

It should be we, the followers of Christ, who ask whether the culture and the country are were it needs to be.  It is us who need to articulate a vision for the society in which we live and insist that it reflect the vision of God's beloved community.