Oftentimes it has struck me while reading the prophets of the Old Testament (Isaiah or the minor prophets), that these men may not actually be speaking for God, but be expressing their own displeasure with and toward the people of Israel or the entire world. As prophets, they may feel fed up that their audience is not responding favorably to their call to repent and honor their God that led them out of Egypt. Frustration seems understandable. The thought sometimes creeps into my mind while reading their “frustrations” that what they are speaking could be their own pent-up feelings dressed up in lengthy discourse; and, thus not God’s own words, his prophecy.

Several ideas now come to me that seemingly speak against this de-sacradization of holy writ:

1. The frustrations are the frustrations of God. After all, he is holding out his hands all day long to a rebellious people (Isaiah 65:2).
2. Thus, the prophet is speaking the words of God. The “true prophets were not simply men of political genius or wise thinkers with unusual insight into civic and world affairs” (Robert L. Reymond’s A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith, p29).