Here is one of God’s great prophets, privileged to see a great vision of a theophany, a divine visitation to this earth, and he is scared out of his wits. You know, we sometimes get the idea that these great prophets and apostles were supermen. They were not supermen, they were men just like you and I, very frail. They were men who lived in the midst of great struggles and trials, and they had great difficulty in the midst of it all. So, when I hear Christian movements today saying,
G. I. Williamsonlook brother, you can have victory; you can rise above all of these problems. You can rise right up above all clouds and live in the sunlight where you will never be shook up and disturbed and tried,I say,no thanks, my friend. Give me the company of the prophet Habakkuk. That is good enough for me. Let me be like the prophet Habakkuk. Let me feel like the prophets felt.The ancient Stoics among the Greeks prided themselves in being able to resist all feeling. If the world fell apart, they were going to just sit there and feel nothing, and harden their hearts against all emotional involvement. Well, that is not the Christian way. God’s great servants have felt deeply and they are not supermen. They are tried and tested, and they do not suppress the deep emotions of their hearts and the tears of their souls.1
16 I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.