Years ago, when I was young, there was a lady named Jean Dixon. She was a famous self-proclaimed "psychic" who predicted that the end of the world, Armageddon, would come in 2020. According to her she could gaze into her crystal ball or read the stars and know what was to come. She was on all the talk shows, had a newspaper column that was full of her predictions for the future. That was the word for it. Full. Lots and lots of predictions. Some came true but did she know that would happen? I don't think so. My Dad, who I thought was a wise man, said she made a lot of predictions with the idea that one or two would "stick" and then she could tell everyone just how real she was. That was a simple trick I guess.

The Prophets of the Bible didn't quite do it that way. They were under penalty of death if they got it wrong, so they didn't say anything about the near future if they were not willing to die for what they told the people. I figure that they didn't say much unless they were very confident they got it right. Sometimes, however, the prophecy they gave could get them killed if the one they gave it to didn't like what they were hearing. That was the case with Elijah. Ahab the king hated him and hunted for him in the hills to kill him. Saul didn't care for David’s words for his future either, and like Ahab, who came later, Saul hunted David with the hope of doing him in and silencing him.

Things have not changed much have they? The Bible is just as accurate now as it was then. Its words about the evil state of man then when applied to today still fit. We pray that the words calling upon the Lord for his help and his answer to that call are as accurate as well.

Psalm 10: 8-18

8 He lies in wait near the villages;

from ambush he murders the innocent.

His eyes watch in secret for his victims;

9 like a lion in cover he lies in wait.

He lies in wait to catch the helpless;

he catches the helpless and drags them off in his net.

10 His victims are crushed, they collapse;

they fall under his strength.

11 He says to himself, “God will never notice;

he covers his face and never sees.”

12 Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.

Do not forget the helpless.

13 Why does the wicked man revile God?

Why does he say to himself,

“He won’t call me to account”?

14 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;

you consider their grief and take it in hand.

The victims commit themselves to you;

you are the helper of the fatherless.

15 Break the arm of the wicked man;

call the evildoer to account for his wickedness

that would not otherwise be found out.

16 The Lord is King for ever and ever;

the nations will perish from his land.

17 You, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted;

you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,

18 defending the fatherless and the oppressed,

so that mere earthly mortals will never again strike terror.