Sometimes God sends a prophet before a deliverer (cf. Judges 6:7-10 and 11ff.). The main task of a prophet is to speak the truth to power, whereas the main task of a deliverer is to act with God’s help to move the people in a different (more faithful) direction. Sometimes God calls the same person to serve as both prophet and deliverer, but when this is not the case, the prophet is often hated. Why? Because they deliver a painful message to the people that exposes the gap between where they are and where God wants them to be, forcing them to sit in the discomfort of that gap without quick solutions. No one likes to sit in the discomfort created by the tension between what is and what should be. By the time the prophetic truth sinks in and the deliverer comes, many are ready to kill the prophet! It is more glorious to help people solve their problems than to show them their problems, but the role of prophet has always been essential in God’s great rescue mission for this world. I often wonder whether one of the main problems in mainline Protestantism today is its lack of prophets (or our refusal to hear the message of the prophets). Take a few minutes during your devotional time to pray for God’s prophets today.