Moses continued, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. For this is what you yourselves requested of the Lord your God when you were assembled at Mount Sinai. You said, ‘Don’t let us hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore or see this blazing fire, for we will die.’ “Then the Lord said to me, ‘What they have said is right. I will raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell the people everything I command him.
Deuteronomy 18:15-18

Dear God, it is easy to criticize your leadership style. Speaking through flawed and frail humans instead of speaking to us directly. Giving us a collection of books written over the course of hundreds (thousands) of years with inconsistencies that can be glaring (two different creation stories back to back in Genesis that are different?). Sending Jesus to live, die, and come back to life to atone for our sin. You allow all of this suffering to happen in the world–from human on human crimes to natural disasters. These are just a few examples.

But what’s the alternative. What would be a better way? Would it be better if you actually spoke to us directly in an audible voice, gave us a 100-page instruction manual on how to live, made us work for our atonement, and made earth heaven, removing all obstacles in life as well as our free will? I’ve thought about this some in the past. Yes, sometimes this system of yours can be frustrating, but it is always better than any alternatives I can come up with.

Father, thank you for your gentleness. In terms of your prophets and scripture, thank you for a chance to get to know you in a more personal way through both stories of your interaction with people over millennia and through the life and examples of Jesus. And thank you for the struggles. Yes, there are times when I’d love to ask you if you regret free will, but I know the world would be pretty miserable without it. In the end, I suppose it come down to the fact that I trust you, and I also trust that this vague system that leaves room for flawed interpretations of your nature and how I should live my life also leaves enough latitude for me to be wrong and still be in relations with you.

In Jesus’s name I pray,

Amen