Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“See, therefore, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who steal my words from one another. See, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who use their own tongues and say, ‘Says the Lord.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Friday, June 27, 2025
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
In recovery I’ve learned lots of valuable lessons. One of my favorites is this little nugget: If you think you’ve received a direct communication from God, you might want to get a second opinion.
I don’t know what it was like for the biblical prophets. It seems pretty clear that they just heard directly from God and then announced what they’d heard to everyone who would listen (and plenty who wouldn’t). In some ways that makes their messages at least a little suspect. I have some pretty strong intuitions about things, and have felt that God communicates with me more or less directly through happenstance, serendipity, and other people. But I don’t think I’d go out and claim that I had a direct line to the creator of all things, and that as such, people should do what I say. It’s important to run these things through a community of thoughtful, faithful people before spouting off.
Meanwhile, there’s this business of false prophets—people who claim to have insight directly from God but who clearly do not. How can you tell?
I think it’s pretty easy. If the message is life-affirming, even if it’s painful to hear, then it’s from God. If it’s life-diminishing, oppressive, hateful, fearful, or far too easy to accept because it fully agrees with our own negative biases, then, no. Not from God. Stay vigilant when people tell you what you want to hear, especially when it lets you off the hook for your responsibility to change.
How do I distinguish whether a message is coming from God or from some other source?
