“Don’t Hate The Messenger!”

Lou Coleman

By Lou Coleman

Listen, there are times in life when we “need” to be warned that we are in a dangerous situation and that we “need” to listen up or face some pretty devastating consequences. God calls each of us to become messengers of His love and truth to each other and to our world. I am just a voice; a mouthpiece for God… Don’t Hate the Messenger! Understand that because our needs are great and varied God has to send messages of encouragement, correction, and direction fitted to us and to our needs through a messenger. Instead of being hateful or take offense we should be grateful and thankful that God loves us so much that He will send a messenger with a message for our mess instead of wrath. You know, God told Ezekiel to tell the people of Judah, “Jerusalem will be destroyed, and you’re staying in Babylon till it happens.” The Israelites had made a mess of their relationship with God. Whether they cared about spiritual matters or not- a close connection with God was the only way for them to avoid an eternity in Hell. So God told Ezekiel, “You go tell them what I said.” Some of us are chosen by God to be a spokesperson for His purposes. We are called to proclaim His Word to His people, to lead them to Christ, to mature them or direct them into God’s Will for their lives. This is not new; He has been using man to declare His message since creation. But today the responsibility is up to us… I choose to be used by God! Just as Jesus was God’s mouthpiece and Moses was Jesus mouthpiece we all have been called to be the mouthpiece of God in the world in which we live. Don’t Hate the Messenger! It may not have looked like the lives of the people of Judah in Babylon were a mess but their relationship with God was a mess. It needed repair or they would have been messed up forever. The thing for us to realize is that in this world we have messages from God and if we have disrespect for anything that has the Mind of Christ in it we do it to the peril of our own souls and the souls of those who we love. I tell you one of the greatest joys of being called to be one of God’s messengers is that I don’t have to worry about what to say; I don’t have to make things up; I don’t have to guess at what people need to hear.  All people need to hear the same thing.  All people need to hear about the mess their lives are without God and all people need to hear the message of the Savior’s life and death so that they won’t ever be without Him.” Don’t Hate the Messenger!

You know, the Apostle Paul was God’s chosen mouthpiece for Divine Revelation concerning the Truth of Christ and the Church. But many of the people at Corinth had said, “You are not an Apostle. You are not from God.” So the Apostle Paul warned them about speaking so about the servants of God. And in the Old Testament times God said to the people of Israel, “Touch not My anointed and do My prophets no harm.” They were God’s mouthpiece. There is a warning here because the Lord defends His servant as His mouthpiece, His witnesses. He always does! In the Book of Numbers, chapter 15, God struck Miriam with leprosy and Aaron with judgment because they spoke against Moses. Not that Moses in himself as a human being was any better than anybody else. The main thing is Moses was God’s mouthpiece. To have disrespect for God’s servant was to have disrespect for God’s message and for the God whom he represented.  The same thing operates today. We know people who have no respect for true servants of God. Well they had better read this chapter and read it very carefully because they are God- called people in the world today who are speaking God messages and they must be heard. The messenger doesn’t matter but the message is everything and the Giver of the message who is God. Careful! You Are Threading on Dangerous Grounds! We may resist people coming in and condemning us in an area that falls short of God’s standard – but does that say more about us than anything. I’m just saying….Don’t Hate the Messenger!

To those who have chosen to allow the Lord to use you as His mouthpiece, as God warned the prophet Ezekiel in regards to his vocation as messenger and mouthpiece of God. God says, “There are no variables when it comes to being His faithful messenger.” Speak the words that God gives. He gives them for a reason and they need to be heard. You may say people may not like you. They may not like what they hear and then they’ll take it out on you.” Don’t worry God replies, “Look if they persist in their sin they will die. They will suffer the eternal death of Hell. I don’t want that to happen which is why I send you to speak My Word to them.  It doesn’t have to end this way.” So as a messenger of God speak the words given. God’s says, “If you don’t tell them what He gives you to say: if you choose to try and play nice and have everybody live under some false pretense of peace they will still suffer the eternal death of Hell only now you will be held accountable for it. But if you are faithful and you do the job God gives you and they reject you thereby rejecting Him also they will die and it will be their own fault. You didn’t send them to Hell. They chose to send themselves to Hell.” Are we clear? You see God’s truth is not dependent on human response. God would not judge Ezekiel for how well others responded to his message but for how faithful he was in presenting it {Ezekiel 3:17}. Listen, it  is your duty as a messenger of God to carry the message whether it is welcomed or not; the consequences of receiving or rejecting the message lie solidly in the hands of those who hear it. The Bible shows us that Ezekiel got it, understood it, as did the faithful men of God who came before and after him. They were hated for it by their fellow man but they were faithful to God and their calling. If you disagree then that’s on you. I’ve done my job. I’m at peace. May God grant you this same peace that surpasses all understanding; a peace that is known and recognized only in the offense of God’s all-redeeming cross.  Now for those of you who may be wondering- did someone say something about her? Well, if they did, it is unbeknown to me. Besides, that ain’t my business, that’s God’s business.  What I want us to understand is that when someone is in covenant with God we have to speak well of them because the hand of God is on their life. Mess around and curse them if you want, they don’t have to raise one finger, God fights for them. You better know that you know… Besides how the Lord’s people ever came to expect one to declare the riches of God’s Word without offending wrong-doers is beyond me. It cannot be done. “Offenders will take offense.” Remember that! “Don’t Hate the Messenger!”

Author: Lou Coleman