JOURNEYING THROUGH THE MINOR PROPHETS

Timothy Keller in his book Counterfeit Gods: The Empty Promises of Money, Sex, andPower, and the Only Hope that Matters describes idols this way: “An idol is anything more important to you than God. Anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God. Anything you seek to give you what only God can give. Anything that isso central and essential to your life, that should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living.”[1] He goes on to say that even the best things in life can become our idols.While discussing the Lord’s Prayer in our recent sermon series, the one thing that stood out for me is that idols are when “the good things of our lives become the ultimate”.Money, jobs, power, and a whole lot of other things are good that God has graciously provided for us to enjoy; however, when we make these good the ultimate then they become our idols. The Lord’s Prayer teaches us to resist this temptation daily.10We are not left without any recourse about how to free ourselves from the idols that control our lives. Keller says,“The only way to free ourselves from the destructive influence of counterfeit gods is to turn back to the True One, the living God, …He’s the only one who if you find Him, can truly fulfill you, and if you fail Him, can truly forgive you.”[2] This is Good-News indeed!

The role of the Minor Prophets in scriptures, at least most of them, is to remind us of our tendencies to lean onthings other than God. In a sense, the idols of our lives. Along the same lines, the role of the minor prophets was toremind the people of their relationship with God and calling them to reevaluate and renew it. The adjective Minorhas nothing to with the import or implication of their role in the life of the nation of Israel and Judah. In fact, all ofthem did some breakthrough prophecies in the lives of the kings who ruled during that time. Minor has to do withthe length of their prophecies recorded in scripture.

There are 12 books in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) known as the Minor Prophets. These books are known bythe titles of Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, andMalachi. Some were written with the Northern Kingdom (Israel) in mind and others with Judah, the SouthernKingdom, in focus. Their context and ours will never be the same; however, they are “filled with rich and redemptivethemes that should convict, equip, and encourage us today.”[3]

Beginning this month (September) and going forward, I would like to engage the congregation in reading with me the Minor Prophets. I will remind you via WhatsApp to read one chapter every other day during the week and provide you with a question to ponder and reflect. And on Sunday, I plan to use the readings from the week as my sermon text.

It has always been my desire to incorporate your reflections from the weekly readings into my preaching task. (I believe this is like “crowd sourcing,” – enlisting the task to a larger group of people.) And so, feel free to send me your “aha” moments separately so that I can incorporate them. Preaching in this case becomes a communal act instead of “pastor’s reflection” on the text. I really appreciate your thoughtful reflection on this journey, and I believe this can be mutually beneficial.

Blessings on your journey through the minor prophets.

[1] In the Introduction to the book, p xix

[2] In the Introduction to the book, p xxvi

[3] https://openthebible.org/article/why-modern-day-christians-need-the-minor-prophets/