A Prophetic Frenzy and a New Heart

It’s a Friday night, and I’m doing some Photoshop and office work tonight. I’ve got a Blue Moon open, and I put on my Old Testament audio. I started yesterday in I Samuel.

I’ve been drawn into the Old Testament and Psalms in various ways in the past year. And, I must confess, I don’t fully nor easily grasp the many details and stories and names and significance of things. But it is easy to pass time by just letting it play aloud and though I’m not giving it full concentration or study, the steady reading allows me to get a sense or a gist of things.

Even if I slowly retain a tenth of some part or story, it is more than I’ve been exposed to before.

Tonight as I was coloring something in and listening, I heard a phrase that got my attention. And then, another part/phrase that got my attention.

I really could not re-tell exactly what was happening per se (but I get the in-articulatable gist of the scene and some context) but the words “prophetic frenzy” gave me pause to ponder some mental imagery.

What on earth was a prophetic frenzy? And, could they still happen today?

I’ve been in services that might be labeled as some sort of “prophetic frenzy” and I’ve been highly skeptical of such scenes for many reasons. Yet, I do believe in various prophetic gifts being of God and real, and in the mysteries of faith. How/when/where and through whom these manifest and to what degree/frequency and how to discern what is genuinely prophetic and what is not, or what is some mixture of human thoughts/emotion and supernatural knowledge (words, dreams, insights, interpretations and such) is surely up for subjective debate.

And then as I listened further, there came the statement that God gave Saul “a new heart.” (v. 9)

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I Samuel 10: 5-9 (NRSV) 
“After that you shall come to Gibeath-elohim, at the place where the Philistine garrison is; there, as you come to the town, you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the shrine with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre playing in front of them; they will be in a prophetic frenzy.  Then the spirit of the Lord will possess you, and you will be in a prophetic frenzy along with them and be turned into a different person. Now when these signs meet you, do whatever you see fit to do, for God is with you.  And you shall go down to Gilgal ahead of me; then I will come down to you to present burnt-offerings and offer sacrifices of well-being. For seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.’ (Saul Prophesies) As he turned away to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart; and all these signs were fulfilled that day.”