L’Engle: The True Prophet
“How do we tell the false prophet from the true prophet? The true prophet seldom predicts the future. The true prophet warns us of our present hardness of heart, our prideful presuming to know God’s mind. The ultimate test of the true prophet is love. A mark of the true prophet in any age is humility, self-emptying so there is room for God’s Word.”—Madeleine L’Engle in A Stone for a Pillow (Shaw Books, 2000).
We owe so much to Madeleine L’Engle and her books for children—which are even better for adults. Perhaps what I will remember the most, however, is that her award-winning 1963 Newbery selection, A Wrinkle in Time, was rejected twenty-six times before it was published and became an instant science fiction classic!
L’Engle tells us how we recognize authentic prophets and know when we speak with a prophetic voice. But there is more. I never know with certainty when I am doing God’s will at the time, but I can sometimes realize afterward that something was God’s will.
L’Engle’s thoughts can be helpful here. If my action is all about me, I must ponder whether this is God’s will. We are likely to hear the voice of God when we are in a place of humility, of self-emptying. If an action of mine is done in love or flows from love, that is a good sign that it may express God’s will. But Madeleine L’Engle tells us most of all if we think we are doing God’s will—especially if we feel pride that we are on the right track—we need to stop and reconsider.
So, it’s a grand mystery. If we think we have it, we don’t. If we don’t believe we have it, we may. I remember that previous helpful quote: “The opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty.”
I think our country lost a true prophet in the life of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a woman who spoke out to help others in humility and love, not for gain for herself, but for those oppressed, warning us of our hardness of heart, who like Madeleine L’Engle never gave up.
Justice Ginsburg may be best remembered for her powerful dissents, symbolized in her writing and outwardly by wearing those unique dissent collars with her black robes. May we honor her by speaking out in love for justice when we encounter our neighbors oppressed. May we never give up dissenting, even when we think our voice is not being heard.
RBG Little Rock a year before she died