A Prophet for Our Time

Malala's 17-minute speech to the United Nations Assembly may be one of the world's greatest speeches.  If Thomas Paine's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech galvanized the fledging colonies to spearhead the American Revolution, then Malala's speech to the world at large should also change the world as we know it today.

A sixteen - year - old girl chosen by God to be a prophet for our times -- much as Jeanne D'Arc was a prophet for her day.  It amazes me, as a student of the Bible, how God always raises up someone to speak powerfully to the issues of the day when the whole world seems to have gone astray.  The Book of Judges shows the pattern -- the most unlikely men and women are called by God to lead a nation back into the path of righteousness.  In this case, Malala may lead not only a nation, but the world to truth. 

In Biblical history, a prophet was not someone who foretold the future, but someone who interpreted current events from the standpoint of God.  The word "prophet" in the Greek form originally meant the same as the Hebrew word "Nabi," an interpreter or mouthpiece of God.  In the Old Testament, the prophet was commonly called "a man of God," someone who could speak to the nation on God's behalf, the interpreter of His will and His design for the nation.  Whenever Israel as a nation was puzzled about which course of action to pursue, they waited for the appearance of a "man of God" to help them decide.

Anyone who listens to the entire 17 minutes of Malala's speech cannot doubt that she 'speaks for God."  Her message is coherent with all of the great spiritual leaders -- Jesus, Mohammed, Martin Luther King, Ghandi -- all those who spoke not only to their nations but to the world.  One way we come to know whether someone speaks truth or not is how closely their words and actions line up with those who have gone before and who the world recognizes as "men of God."  The Spirit of God does not contradict Himself first in one person and then in another, but there is a remarkable consistency in spiritual leaders, if not in their followers.

There cannot be a doubt that Malala is a 'chosen soul,' protected from death itself , to speak to the issues of our day.  Her speech should be required listening for every schoolchild, but also for every legislator and political leader of our day.  And those leaders should be required not only to listen to her, but to promise to follow her wisdom and guidance. 

What amazed me as she spoke were her words of wisdom -- and the fact that the man seated behind her was obviously bored to tears, as he searched through his papers and notes for the "real business" of the day.  God sends His prophets, but as usual, the world has other things to think about, to its own destruction and grief.