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The ‘Success story’ of the ‘unsuccessful’ prophets
At the outset, I desire to bring to the fore, a ‘juicy’ tale adorning Science
history. When, the invention-coal miner’s lamp- of Sir Humphrey Davy began to pale
relatively before the astounding discoveries of his far more illustrious pupil
Michael Faraday (in the field of electro-magnetism and electro-chemistry), he
was prodded by the prying media of his day ‘on how he felt on seeing his
discovery being overshadowed by those of his own famous student’. To
this he is said to have come –up with an apt, witty reply ‘Gentlemen, you are
forgetting that my greatest discovery is not the coal miner’s lamp but Michael Faraday,
himself’. Oh, how weak is human memory! Oh, how soon, lives of
men who have inspired other men to ‘great works’ are soon reduced to mere
footnotes in the history books! Thankfully, it doesn’t happen in the spiritual
realm, for here the fair and a just God who is in charge has affirmed that
“…those who seem least important now will be the greatest then.”-
Mark 10:31
What a wonderful source of encouragement, these words are to those who serve the Lord diligently,
far away from the public spotlight for words “The least important now” alludes to them. Yes,
they may get no proper recognition from the people of their era, for the industrious efforts,
they put in for the Lord but their efforts are being recognized by the Lord himself!
Let’s take the life and ministry of Prophets before the exile, as a case in point. Unlike prophets and leaders
after the Exile like Haggai and Nehemiah who were able to elicit positive response from the people and
rally them around for great socio-spiritual civic projects like Temple and Wall reconstruction, the prophets before
the exile were not as fortunate. Not only were they ‘unsuccessful’ in bringing the errant people to repentance
but also to top it all, some of them paid for their sincere, selfless efforts with their own lives! Let me state
affirmatively here that it is not Haggai’s or Nehemiah fault that they did not face the wrath of their own people
in the way their predecessors did before the Exile. It also follows that their (Haggai or Nehemiah) rewards too
wouldn’t be diminished just because, their suffering did not equal that of their counterparts before the Exile.
Biblical scholars would tell us that the hearts of God’s chosen lot, ‘softened’ by the retribution of exile,
were more receptive to God’s instruction (after the Exile) than that of their hard-hearted fathers. But spare a
thought to the diligent lot, who laboured for the Lord before the Exile, pleading with the people to repent?
Forget listening to their clarion call and repenting, the Jews of that day wanted nothing to do with them.
Situation turned from bad to worse for these representatives of God, when the emotional pain of social
rejection assumed the dark contours of physical hardships. Take the insults heaped upon Amos
(Amos 7:12),
the flogging and imprisonment of Jeremiah
(Jeremiah 20:1-2) and then throw in cruel execution of other faithful
prophets such as Zechariah, son of Jehoiada the High priest
(II Chronicles 24:21-22) and Uriah, son of Shemiah
(Jeremiah 26:20-23) and the grim picture of all pain and no gain of these prophets would slowly but surely emerge.
Oh yes, prophets like Jeremiah or Amos, may be a popular subjects of study amongst the Bible students of our age
but what were their popularity ratings in the Jewish society of their age? Were they at least looked upon as
Prophets- representatives of the Almighty God? NO! Far from being viewed as men holding a holy office, they
were actually looked down upon as ‘ unholy traitors of their nation’ (Jeremiah 38:4/
Amos 7:10). In essence, they were the very
definition of the word ‘the least’ our Lord was talking about in the afore-referred scripture portion.
While on the subject, I want to present yet another important dimension of their Ministry, which made their popularity graph
dip alarmingly. As Prophets, not only were they foretelling the future but they also assumed the role of forthtellers of
God’s word. Not for them, any sugarcoating business! They boldly portended all of God’s warnings’ of ‘gloom and doom’
to the disobedient people without mincing any words! Do we practice such forthtelling in the pulpits nowadays,
even if it means risking empty pews?
Now coming to the ‘success’ of their Ministry, which did not bring to God’s kingdom ‘many repentant souls’! Let me
forewarn, the success per se, of the ministries of these faithful ambassadors of God ought not to evaluated in the context of its
meaning spelled out in say an Oxford dictionary but rather in the backdrop of its meaning as outlined in God’s
lexicon! If to God, they were ultimately accountable, then from Him alone ought to come the Final verdict on the
‘success’ of their ministry!
For the ‘Divine verdict’ on this subject, let’s have a closer look at the words of commendation of the Divine
master (in the parable of talents) addressed to those earnest servants of his, which goes thus… “ Well done,
my good and faithful servant”
(Matt 25:21-23). The words of commendation employed (not once but twice, as
though to underscore a point) were not, “well done, my successful servant” but rather “well done, my
faithful servant”. Ah… Faithfulness that key to gaining God’s approval in any realm of spiritual service,
is it pervading every area of our work for Him? If it is then my dear Co-servants in His vineyard, let’s
never fret over the so-called ‘lack of success’ in our Ministry, because as long as we faithfully endeavour
to carry out His tasks assigned to us…we are guaranteed the Master’s approval!
God, who sees and punishes every done sin in secret, also sees every good deed done faithfully for His glory in secret
and rewards (Heb 4:13). Early Church, didn’t know about Cornelius, the charitable Roman centurion till his baptism
but his good deeds done faithfully albeit in a corner, as it were, were noticed by Him, whose opinion matters the
most at all times (Acts 10:5)!
In conclusion, I want to highlight the ‘greatest’ success of the supposedly unsuccessful Prophets
before exile. It is only logical to believe that for a far more popular, successful, history-conscious
(Nehemiah13:26) socio-spiritual leader like Nehemiah, the faithfulness displayed in the past by prophets
such as Jeremiah and Amos was always a source of great inspiration especially in his moments of
discouragement, as he endeavoured to rebuild the Jerusalem wall against heavy odds. Jeremiah, Amos and
their ilk may have been Davy’s equivalent of Faraday to Nehemiah in the sphere of inspiration. Leave
alone Nehemiah, even today, when we see the perseverance and faithfulness of the ‘unsuccessful’ prophets,
are we not inspired and encouraged to go an extra mile for the Lord? The simple fact
is… THE GOOD LORD IS STILL USING THEM, EVEN TODAY, THOUGH PHYSICALLY THEY ARE LONG DEAD
AND GONE, FOR THEIR EXAMPLE, STILL CONTINUES TO INSPIRES US!!!
Would our lives and our selfless (?) work for Him, inspire the posterity in the same way like that of say a
Jeremiah or an Amos, inspires us today? It’s time for a reality check…
(Suresh Manoharan)
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