The prophet's handbook

As you can read from the account, the prophet Nathan’s constant interactions with David caused him to give David a word from the sphere of the obvious. He prophesied the obviously predictable when asked by David if he thought God would be pleased if the king built Him a house in which to dwell. Nathan told David to go on and build God a house, because his experience with the king had shown him how pleased Jehovah was with king David. In the prophet’s mind, God’s good pleasure was so abundantly evident in the king’s life that He could not possibly deny David the honor of building Him a temple. After the prophet gave God’s consent to the king, he was later sent to reverse his word following a vision he received that night. It is a good thing the prophet Nathan was not too proud to reverse his word with the king and give the real word of the Lord on the matter. Many prophets today would not do so for fear of professional embarrassment or being labeled false prophets. Instead of allowing the king’s sacrifice to be spurned by God and wasting his time, money, and energy on what would not have pleased the Lord, Nathan boldly gave the king what he learned was the true mind of God regarding his plans. In this case, revelation could have been jeopardized by familiarity and both could have been dangerous. Thanks to the humility of the prophet, it was not. Nathan’s willingness to admit his mistake meant the king’s desire was denied for hallowed reasons only. Due to David’s military career, which involved much bloodshed on God’s behalf, building a house for the Lord was assigned to one of his sons, Solomon. This example shows that for the church prophet in particular, the line between friendship and familiarity can easily grow thin and fade. Warm feelings and the fortified trust that grow between the prophet and the pastor could eliminate boundaries and relax standards to the point where the prophet’s mantle in the church becomes merely a spiritual prop. It can also be the other way around. The pastor’s authority in the union may get so weak that the prophet disregards it in favor of what he or she is certain the Lord is saying. When familiarity takes hold, the pastor can claim to have a church prophet, but over time he may nullify the messenger’s value to the church and its leaders. I have been in such situations in the past. When the struggle between the two mantles remained unresolved, the only thing left for the pastor and church prophet to do was to sever ties. To all concerned, this case made the decision to dissolve treasured relationships or withdraw from comfortable fellowships for professional reasons difficult. Being aware of the gravity of my office and the conditions under which such relationships were formed, I recognize when God’s