Prophets are often depicted as gloomy, with a small dark cloud hanging over their heads. Perhaps they need a union to help change the unfair image!
While it is true they are usually found rowing against the current of human life, the fact is prophets love humanity more than most. One Bible scholar points out about the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah, for example: "He was a man of warm and friendly spirit, who loved his fellow men. Yet God's word was as 'a burning fire' within him .... To Jeremiah there was granted a vision, unparalleled outside the New Testament, of that inwardness, universality, and perfect freedom which exist within the relationship between God and man." Westminster Study Bible (New York: Collins' Clear-Type Press, 1965), pp. 969, 972.
No prophet worth his salt ever supposes he himself is originating what he prophesies. His whole life is given over to his consciousness of God's reality. This brings him some vision of what God, divine Mind, is expressing of order, intelligence, and love. As a result, the prophet may find himself at odds with the more comfortable opinions of his fellowmen, but he knows that obeying these spiritual promptings from God is the shortest route to having God's help.
