God's Hidden Gems: The Unpredictable Rise of Prophets
John 7:52
They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.
Prophets rise from unpredictable places! Their very origins often remain hidden by Divine design. The very nature in which they are hidden in obscurity and yet prepared like a tempest for the upsetting of status quo when the time is right, gives us a small glimpse into God’s methods by which He uses them. Since prophets are led by The Spirit of God, they can also be compared to the wind, which comes and goes while remaining completely unpredictable and uncontrollable by men. God has His hidden jewels stored up for display when the seasons line up just right with His purposes. In those moments, out from the wilderness comes a prophet Elijah calling a people to stop straddling the fence, and either follow God, or Baal, but not both; or here comes a Jonah warning of imminent judgment just ahead; or here comes a John the Baptist, crying to the religious but lost elite, “Oh ye generation of vipers. Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come!” You get the picture; in each instance, God prepared a man for a time, place, and platform. In each instance, no man could have predicted his coming or going. In each instance, he was God’s hidden jewel, displayed for His glory in the moment of His Divine plan. So, you see, one cannot simply assume that just because God never did it in this place, or in that place, or with this group of people, or with that group (or any other variable you can imagine), that He will never do so. The truth is, God appointeth “whomsoever he will” (see Dan. 5:21). This allows God to use the element of surprise by which to remind us that although men have plans, God has the final say so. It is unfortunate in our text that Jesus was not given the respect of a prophet by some who discredited Him simply because “it had never been done that way before”! Even so, today, God’s methods and means work exactly the same way; God will raise up a man who will speak on His behalf, and He will often do so from unlikely places. In fact, some (like Gideon or Paul) will not even know it until later in their own lives, which makes God’s ways past finding out. And if YOU are one hidden so, God WILL raise you up soon enough!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill
They answered and said unto him, Art thou also of Galilee? Search, and look: for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet.
Prophets rise from unpredictable places! Their very origins often remain hidden by Divine design. The very nature in which they are hidden in obscurity and yet prepared like a tempest for the upsetting of status quo when the time is right, gives us a small glimpse into God’s methods by which He uses them. Since prophets are led by The Spirit of God, they can also be compared to the wind, which comes and goes while remaining completely unpredictable and uncontrollable by men. God has His hidden jewels stored up for display when the seasons line up just right with His purposes. In those moments, out from the wilderness comes a prophet Elijah calling a people to stop straddling the fence, and either follow God, or Baal, but not both; or here comes a Jonah warning of imminent judgment just ahead; or here comes a John the Baptist, crying to the religious but lost elite, “Oh ye generation of vipers. Who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come!” You get the picture; in each instance, God prepared a man for a time, place, and platform. In each instance, no man could have predicted his coming or going. In each instance, he was God’s hidden jewel, displayed for His glory in the moment of His Divine plan. So, you see, one cannot simply assume that just because God never did it in this place, or in that place, or with this group of people, or with that group (or any other variable you can imagine), that He will never do so. The truth is, God appointeth “whomsoever he will” (see Dan. 5:21). This allows God to use the element of surprise by which to remind us that although men have plans, God has the final say so. It is unfortunate in our text that Jesus was not given the respect of a prophet by some who discredited Him simply because “it had never been done that way before”! Even so, today, God’s methods and means work exactly the same way; God will raise up a man who will speak on His behalf, and He will often do so from unlikely places. In fact, some (like Gideon or Paul) will not even know it until later in their own lives, which makes God’s ways past finding out. And if YOU are one hidden so, God WILL raise you up soon enough!
~ Pastor Gary Caudill