Who is blind but My servant, or deaf like the messenger I am sending?
(Isaiah 42:19)
Blind guides, who strain out the gnat and swallow the camel! (Matt. 23:24).
Sometimes we cry out in the streets. We bruise tender reeds. We snuff out tiny embers of light.
“Here is My Servant, whom I uphold,
My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights.
I will put My Spirit on Him,
and He will bring justice to the nations.
He will not cry out or raise His voice,
nor make His voice heard in the streets.
A bruised reed He will not break
and a smoldering wick He will not extinguish.
He will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not grow weak or discouraged
before He has established justice on the earth.
In His law (Torah) the islands will put their hope.” (Isaiah 42:1-4).
All these things are being completely fulfilled in the messianic Kingdom. We are seeing the Kingdom come together. Once a valley of dry bones. Now becoming an army. His Torah will spread across the earth. In verse 19, the Holy One was also mentioning how blind the messenger, His servant was in Isaiah 42. The illness is not physical. It is spiritual blindness and immaturity. This immaturity shouts loudly. It’s smug. It wants to be right. The tar baby is in a sticky mess that is hard to get unstuck from.
Our vision can be blurry or muddled. Our hearing can be off. Our words can harm.
Our “Itching ear words” can harm too. Some of the things we say, we think are spot on, later we realize, we were wrong. We were shouting and bruising people or giving prophetic words and we were wrong.
The problem is we are emotional people, and our emotions can get the best of us. We love someone, and we want them to be healed, delivered, prosperous, and on it goes, so by the words of our mouths, we speak what we know they want to hear and what our heart wants for them, but this is not always good. Some do this nationally and get caught up in politicians. Some do this for attention, and they don’t even realize it. The Book of Jeremiah warns against this:
“Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you.
They make you worthless;
They speak a vision of their own heart,
Not from the mouth of the Lord.
For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord,
And has perceived and heard His word?
Who has marked His word and heard it?
Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury—
A violent whirlwind! (Jeremiah 23:16-19).
Notice how the ear resembles a seed or a child in the womb.
I had a friend years ago who had melanoma and did not know it. She kept going up for prayer, and finally, I convinced her to get to the doctor. By this time, it was in her brain. The small spot on her head was now rapidly metastasizing in her lymph nodes. She had 80 removed and grueling hours of surgery with skin grafts. She also had major televised, famous “prophets” visiting for a conference at her mega church. One lady told her prior to the surgery that it was not cancer but a cyst. She has millions of followers now. Others told her after the surgery that she did not need chemo. Chemo was poison. She would be healed, and no weapon formed would prosper. I told her they were wrong. He told me He was taking her. This was hard. But she listened to the big named prophets–stopped chemo and died a horrific death eaten up with tumors. The immature prophets gave her CDs with their proclamations of name it and claim it. And, yes, I do try and speak life, but these people need healed.
Sometimes what we believe is the truth is not truth. Sometimes there are grey areas. Many times, with age and knowledge, our reality or what we thought was the truth changes along with our identities, diets, traditions, how to raise children, the role of men and women and so on. The world is loud. Politics and religion are loud. Elijah came out of the cave and it was loud. “And behold, the LORD was passing by! And a great and powerful wind was tearing out the mountains and breaking the rocks in pieces before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake, a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire, a sound of a gentle blowing. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And behold, a voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (I Kings 19).
It is very interesting how we change words to fit our understanding without dissecting and researching. Or we focus on one thing so much that we lack vision for our surroundings. Elijah thought he was the only one. When all our focus is on the world, the kings of the world, the debates and arguments of the world, we lack Kingly vision. I pray while looking at the storms and earthquakes, we do not miss His still soft Voice. I have been guilty. Our King is not worried about famine, He sends it. He is not worried about plagues, He sends them. He is not worried about global warming or if it’s going to rain. He shuts up the sky for years. He rains on the just and those we consider unjust. Sometimes in our fleshly weakness, we become frightened, angry, hurt or deal with matters that are beyond excruciating.
Usually, while the prophets are crying, weeping, groaning, burdened, angry, depressed, or suicidal, the rest of the body is experiencing everyday trials and successes. By the time the rest of the body cries out, “the sky is falling!” The prophet has moved on to something else or is trying to counsel and help those going through with what they just experienced. This does not make them holier, better, wiser, etc… This is just how the prophets usually function. The prophets show up at widow’s houses and multiple oil and meal. Joseph had already felt the hatred, the pit, the murderous spirit, the prison, etc., by the time his brothers are experiencing it. Moses had already spent all the time on the desert before leading the children around for 40 years. Prophets go first.
Let me hear from you. Have you noticed this pattern? Have you been battling harder than ever before?
One verse concerning vision has been taken out of context and translated incorrectly in many translations. Proverbs 29:18:
I was taught that without vision, the people perish. “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained but happy is he who keeps the law. (Guards and cherishes the Torah/instructions/tree of life).
Dr. Skip Moen said it best below:
Jeremiah tried to object to God’s intentions for Israel. God told him to shut up. For a society that established its identity in a prophetic tradition, this was a mortal blow. The verse we so commonly misunderstand plays a crucial role here. It is not “Where there is no vision, the people are unrestrained,” (NASB), nor is it “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint;” (NKJV). Don’t read it as ḥāzôn (vision). Read it as ḥōzeh (seer). “Without a seer, the people are out of control.”[1] A faith that is based in prophetic revelation doesn’t continue without prophets, and I do not mean soothsayers and prognosticators. Biblical prophecy has nothing to do with the “end times.”
We need the seer, not the soothsayer–
Prophets are very sensitive to all five senses– hearing, smell, taste, sight, and touch. Prophets walk in strange giftings and are part of the voice that should lead the rest of the body to repentance and understanding. This means the mature prophet is always repenting of something.
When a mother asks a child, “do you see?” This can mean do you understand what I am saying, or do you see what I am pointing at. Our Messiah would often ask his disciples if they understood what the parable meant or if they had eyes to see or ears to hear. The Father often asked His prophets questions like, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” “Do you understand the vision, Daniel?”
Prophets are called the eyes of the body—eagle eyes. I want to elaborate on the prophet as a deer. For many years now, the Father has given me a love for the tribe of Naphtali and used their banner and symbol of the deer to speak to me. When we purchased a home a few years ago, we had deer all over our backyard. They bedded down and gave birth there. Twin babies arrived after a mother decided my large tree was a perfect spot for her to get comfy and wait.
Naphtali is an interesting landmark and tribe of several prominent people in the Bible. Deborah, the judge (Chieftain) and prophetess, and her husband Barak (Lightning) were from the region of Naphtali. The mighty prophet Elijah was thought to be as well.
Elijah is called “the Tishbite” probably because he came from a place (or a family) by the name of “Tishbe.” A place of that name lay within the boundaries of Naphtali (Tobit i. 2)
Who was Naphtali?
Naphtali was the 6th son of Jacob (who became Israel) and the second son of Bilhah, Rachel’s maid (Gen. 30:7). Naphtali’s descendants formed one of the twelve tribes of Israel, and their land was situated in the northern half of Israel.
What does this tribe have in common with the prophet’s giftings, weaknesses, and strengths?
In my opinion, Spiritually, much.
“Jacob blessed his son Naphtali to be like the ayalah sheluchah, the swift gazelle, also called a tzvi. Naphtali Tzvi is often followed by Hirsh (or Hersh or Hertz, depending on dialect), which is Yiddish for “deer.” Although not technically accurate, this reflects the historical use of the word tzvi, which slowly drifted from meaning gazelle to deer among European Jews who were familiar with deer but never saw gazelles.”
David’s young nephew loses his life, but he is remembered for being as swift as a deer or gazelle. He did not turn to the left or the right. Unfortunately, instead of being swift in this situation, he needed to slow down:
“And the three sons of Zeruiah were there, Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Now Asahel was as swift of foot as a wild gazelle” (II Samuel 2:18)
Asahel’s name means “Made By God.”
“So Asahel pursued Abner, and in going, he did not turn to the right hand or to the left from following Abner. Then Abner looked behind him and said, “Are you Asahel? ”It is,” Asahel replied.
So Abner told him, “Turn to your right or to your left, seize one of the young men, and take his equipment for yourself.”
But Asahel would not stop chasing him.
Once again, Abner warned Asahel, “Stop chasing me. Why should I strike you to the ground? How could I show my face to your brother Joab?” But Asahel refused to turn away.
“Therefore Abner struck him in the stomach with the blunt end of the spear, so that the spear came out of his back; and he fell down there and died on the spot. So it was that as many as came to the place where Asahel fell down and died, stood still.” (II Samuel 2:19-22)
According to a Jewish tradition, Abner was the son of the Witch of En-dor.
The men stood still at the death of the one made by God to do and bring the word swiftly as a deer.
In the Blessing of Jacob (ib. xlix. 21) the passage which concerns Naphtali has reference to the qualities of the tribe, rather than to those of the individual. “Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words”; i.e., “He is alert, nimble, free-spirited, and has poetical or oratorical gifts” (Driver, Commentary on Genesis, ad loc.). According to the Targums (pseudo-Jonathan and Jerusalem), Naphtali was a swift runner and came first to Jacob with the good news that Joseph was alive. This may be only an inference from the passage in the Blessing of Jacob quoted above. The Targums say also that he was one of the five brethren presented by Joseph to Pharaoh (ib. xlvii. 2).
Asahel, son of Zeruiäh, was so fleet that he overtook deer; and when he ran over a field of ripening corn, the ears of grain did not even bend but remained erect as if untouched. When his time had come, however, he could not move an inch and was slain by Abner. To Asahel was applied the verse: “I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift” (Eccl. ix. 11)
The race is not always to the swift.
The seasoned prophet is in tune with their five senses. They are watchful. Listening. Taking in their surroundings, but they too can make errors like Asahel. Weighing matters and looking at all sides of a situation, not abruptly speaking when heavy matters are being weighed. Their antennas need to be up. Antlers help the prophet get a better signal and hear with greater detail, but the prophet needs his antlers for other reasons as well, and every year deer shed their antlers annually. Antler shedding is a natural process that all deer with antlers undergo. The regrowth happens insanely fast, and the antlers are covered in velvet until they are ready. I liken the comment below from “Deer Antler Store” to fruit maturing and being edible.
Over the course of a buck’s life, his antlers will generally become increasingly larger and more complex with each passing the year. The first year he may only have 2 small horn-like antlers coming out the pedicles, while the following year these may branch out into 4 points. Each year thereafter, the buck’s antlers will increase in mass and circumference until their growth. The growth does, however, begin to slow down once the buck reaches 7-10 years of age. HERE
Scientific Facts About How Deer See and Hear
Deer can detect sound at lower volumes than we can, but the difference isn’t great. Where deer excel is in detecting high-pitched sounds. While the upper end of human hearing is about 20,000 hertz, deer can hear frequencies to at least 30,000 hertz.
Just looking at a deer’s ears demonstrates how they’re built to detect predator sounds. Their ears are uniquely shaped to gather a great deal of sound and to pinpoint where each sound is coming from. Without turning its head, a deer can rotate its ears to localize sound.
Whitetails are wired to quickly distinguish between sounds that represent a threat and those that don’t. This explains why deer run away after hearing two hunters whisper but stay put when they hear two squirrels playing. HERE.
How well does a prophet hear in his long in the tooth season time of authority? Pretty darn well, and especially if he has grown, matured, and uses his gifts that have been given to him wisely.
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