Year 3, Day 253: Habakkuk 2

Habakkuk’s Conclusion

In the opening verse to chapter 2 we actually have the concluding thought to Habakkuk’s second complaint to God.  Here Habakkuk says that he will stand as a watchman and see what the Lord has to say in response to his complaint.  Some have taken this statement to be an arrogant statement where Habakkuk has positioned himself in opposition to God.  I do not see it this way.  Rather, I see this as a position of humbleness.  Habakkuk recognizes that he has put up a complaint for God to hear and now he is humbling himself and waiting for a response.  In fact, I believe it actually demonstrates that Habakkuk assumes the Lord will respond.  He is waiting – watching even! – for a response.  One does not post a watch for something that one assumes will never come.

Furthermore, notice that Habakkuk’s complaint is not an opportunity for him to lose faith.  Yes, Habakkuk has issues with the world.  Yes, Habakkuk is confused as to why God desires to work through the godless Babylonians.  But that does not cause Habakkuk to lose faith.  It causes Habakkuk to realize his own shortfalls and therefore his need to wait upon the Lord.

God’s Second Reply

God begins his reply with a reminder to Habakkuk that there is a time and a place for everything.  God knows all that Habakkuk has said, and He will deal with it.  God reminds Habakkuk that patience is absolutely necessary.  When we think about this comment from the perspective of history, this is especially profound.  You see, most of the people living in Habakkuk’s day would live to see Jerusalem fall to the Babylonians.  But the majority of them would not live to see the return of the Jews under Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, and Ezra.  When God says to be patient, He is asking Habakkuk to have a patience that extends beyond his lifetime.  When you think about it, that’s a very profound request.  I applaud Habakkuk for being able to hear it, realize it, and understand it.

God reminds Habakkuk of an incredible quote: the righteous shall live by faith.  In contrast, the Babylonians are arrogant (puffed up).  They are not upright.  They are drunkards.  They are never at rest – implying many things but the most important of which is that they never take time to listen to God!  They are greedy.  They trust in the pledges of other men rather than turning to God.  They will use any means for personal gain.  They are violent.  Yes, the righteous shall live by faith.  God tells Habakkuk that He is well aware that the Babylonians are nowhere near close to being righteous.

As a result of their unrighteousness, God promises that the Babylonians will be consumed by their debtors.  He says that those they have plundered will plunder them.  God promises that they will be consumed by the remnants of the peoples that they could not destroy in all of their power.  Again we see God reassuring Habakkuk that He has the situation under control.  Habakkuk may not live to see the day, but that doesn’t mean that the Lord doesn’t have the situation under control.

Knowledge Of The Lord Will Fill The Earth:

The Lord promises that He Himself will be the avenger of the Hebrew people and the other nations that the Babylonians have consumed.  The cup for the Babylonians is in the right hand of God the Almighty.  They shall surely not avoid drinking it.  Who can ever hope to avoid the judgment that comes from the Lord? 

Furthermore, this is a reminder to those of us who feel oppressed from time to time.  Which one of us has God appointed to bring His wrath?  Does not the Lord say that vengeance is His?  We need to be patient and allow God to be our vindication rather than taking matters into our own hands.  It is the glory of the Lord that will fill the earth, not my own personal glory.

The thrust of truly obedient living can actually be found in the last verse of this chapter.  “The Lord is Holy in His temple and the earth should be silent before Him.”  It is God who fills us.  It is God who is in charge.  It is God who is in dominion of the place in which we reside.  We can make no idols superior to our Creator.  Who among us can give life to anything, much less create something out of nothing?

Since God is completely and fully in charge, He is making an absolute point to Habakkuk.  It is not as though God is uninterested in helping the Hebrew people.  Rather it is God who is letting the people of the earth reveal their true character through their actions so that He can honestly judge them.  It is God who created us and thus stands in judgment over us.  We cannot stand in judgment over the “gods” just because we think that we have created them.

In this sense we see God coming full circle to where He began.  The righteous will live by faith.  God is allowing us to demonstrate our character through our deeds.  Habakkuk has wondered how it is that God can tolerate and even work through the Babylonians.  God replies that He alone is sovereign.  God is simply giving the Babylonians rope because he wants them to see for themselves that with enough rope the Babylonians will just end up hanging themselves.  That is the course of human nature.  Success brings reliance upon ourselves.  Reliance upon ourselves brings ignorance of God.  Ignorance of God brings about hardship, woe, and a culture that is in need of God’s corrective hand.

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Year 3, Day 252: Habakkuk 1

Habakkuk – Background

Habakkuk is one of my favorite minor prophets.  Habakkuk’s primary question is how God can use an ungodly nation like the Babylonians as a tool of His righteous judgment.  This is one of the reasons why I love Habakkuk.  It is a book that not only talks truth about God but also truth about character and real life problems.  How many times have I wondered how it is that so much ungodliness can exist in the world and why God doesn’t do something about it!

The book of Habakkuk is a book that was likely in the closing years of the 7^th century, perhaps even between 610-600 BC.  This would mean that Habakkuk wrote this book either at the end of Josiah’s reign or during the years of Jehoiakim in Judah.  In either case, it is a book that is written as the Hebrew people come out of a time of reformation and head back into a time of lawlessness.

The First Exchange

Habakkuk comes before God and questions Him.  This is an important point.  Here in the example of Habakkuk we see that it is possible to come before God with complaints – even in one’s anger – and not sin.  However, we need to learn something about this example.  What we don’t see Habakkuk do is to lift up a complaint against God.  Rather, what we see Habakkuk do is lift up his experience and declare to God that he doesn’t understand God’s presence.  Habakkuk sees injustice all around him, he sees the Law being paralyzed, and he can’t help but wonder where God is in all of this.  Habakkuk isn’t attacking God’s character; he is confessing his own inability to understand.

God’s response is forthcoming.  God tells Habakkuk that He is doing something about it.  The reality is that God’s timeline doesn’t match up with the timeline of the world.  Habakkuk wants justice now because he sees injustice now.  God is bringing justice on a grand scale and allowing the people to work themselves into a position of letting their behavior truly deserve what is coming their way.

In the answer, though, we get a very honest declaration of truth from God’s behalf.  Do you what God says in addition to the fact that God is bringing the Babylonians?  God tells Habakkuk that He is doing something that even Habakkuk wouldn’t believe it even if God did tell him.  Here is a truth as to why we have such difficulty seeing God at work in the world.  We wouldn’t be able to comprehend much of what God is doing even if we did have a clear sign of God’s hand at work!

Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

Habakkuk hears what God is saying, but God’s words don’t make a ton of sense to him.  After all, he knows the Babylonians.  He knows that they aren’t exactly God-fearers themselves.  He can’t quite understand how it is that a pure God would even want to work with the Babylonians.  How is it that God can choose a vile people to come against God’s holy ones?

Here is Habakkuk’s main set of issues against the Babylonians.  They are slavers – hence the line about dragging people around with hooks.  They are so successful that they praise the things of their own making rather than giving glory to God.  The Babylonians seem to be a people who think they are bigger than life.

This is a huge issue for Habakkuk.  Habakkuk sees all around him that success often brings about less praise for God.  Rather than pausing to give praise to God, the successful begin to see their success as the fruit of their own labor.  Habakkuk cannot understand how it is that God can take a people who refuse to give Him any glory and still continue to work through them.

Isn’t this just like a human way of thinking?  We think we are better than other people and we wonder how it is that God can work through those who are less than us.  The reality is that we are all fallen and none of us should know what it feels like to have God work through us.  However, God is gracious and merciful.  He works through us in spite of our sinfulness and our rebellion.

Finally, Habakkuk asks God when it is that the Babylonian domination will end.  Habakkuk is unsure that God will be able to stop the Babylonians once He lets them loose upon the world.  Perhaps he wants to make sure that the Babylonians won’t receive too much power since they are so resistant to give glory to God.

Whatever the reason, we see Habakkuk struggling to keep up with what God is doing in the world.  Haven’t we all been there before?  Isn’t the reality that we all struggle to keep up with God?  When we don’t understand God, don’t we lean on our own understanding?

I can’t fault Habakkuk too much here.  Well, I can.  He’s in the wrong in that he’s leaning on his own understanding.  But I guess I should say that I can understand him.  And I can’t convict him from doing anything I haven’t likewise done myself.  When I am unclear about what God is doing, rather than wait upon the Lord so often I strive forward on my own understanding.  Things usually go poorly from that point on.

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Year 3, Day 251: Jude

Jude – Background and Skepticism

Jude is without question the book of the Bible of which I am the most cautious.  It’s not that I believe that there is anything wrong with this book.  It is that translating this book is incredibly difficult.  Under normal circumstances I can usually translate a chapter of the Bible in 30 – 60 minutes.  The single chapter of Jude took me 8 hours alone.  The reason that Jude takes so long is both vocabulary as well as usage.  Jude contains a number of vocabulary terms that are unique to this book and in truth we really aren’t completely sure what the terms mean.  Jude also has a unique way of constructing sentences – often leaving out seemingly key words at inopportune times.  As I said, it isn’t that I think Jude contains bad advice.  I’m just not personally convinced that our translations have Jude perfectly right.  For these reasons I seldom if ever make a theological case on content found only in Jude.  However, I find Jude to be a very useful book in substantiating claims made elsewhere in God’s Word.

As far as Jude goes, the author identifies himself as Jude the brother of James.  There were two famous James in the Bible.  There is James the brother of John, one of Jesus’ disciples.  There is James the brother of Jesus, who became significant in the church after Jesus’ resurrection.  It is most likely that Jude is identifying with James the brother of Jesus since we hear nothing of Jude being a brother of James and John.  {I acknowledge this is an argument by omission, which is a tenuous argument to make.}  That would make Jude a half-brother of Jesus at the very least!  If this is true, it would explain why the Greek is difficult to translate.  It is not too difficult to imagine that the son of a carpenter might not have the means to go to school and learn proper Greek.

Slave

Jude identifies himself as a slave of Jesus Christ.  I love this address – it is the most common identifier in the Bible.  What I love about this is that James uses the same address to begin his letter.  The brothers of Jesus thought Jesus was insane while He was alive and doing ministry on the earth.  But once they saw Him resurrected, they humbled themselves and believed.  Even the great authors of the Bible made errors in their personal lives when it comes to discerning the truth about Jesus Christ.  Yet through grace God allowed them to recover from such an error and even write a book of the Bible!  We see that it is not our error that defines our relationship with God but rather our openness to humbleness and truth in the presence of God.  Mistakes can be repented and forgiven, thanks be to God!

παρεισδύω and ἀσεβής

Jude uses two very harsh words when he speaks about the false teachers in the midst of the recipients of this letter.  The first word, pareisduo (Παρεισδύω), is a word that means “to sneak in with evil intent.”  It is a word that comes out of legal practice.  It describes a person who uses their speech to make flowing arguments designed to get people to believe something that just isn’t true.  Jude is talking about people who entered the church with a silver tongue.  Jude gives us a pretty good lesson here.  Be careful of people who make smooth arguments.  Believe truth, not people who can speak well.

The second word, asebes (ἀσεβής), is an equally telling word.  It describes a lifestyle that is not concerned with religious practice.  Jude is talking about false teachers who came into the church and taught that they could practice anything they want so long as they “believed” in Christ.  In other words, it’s the old “I confess with my mouth but don’t practice what I claim to believe.” 

Jude calls such people false teachers.  He says that such people pervert what Christ came to accomplish within humanity.  As the letter goes on, he compares such people to the angels who have fallen from heaven!  He says that people who live like this blaspheme the holy ones.  That’s a high charge!  You see, Jesus came to change how we relate with the world rather than give us permission to relate in whatever way we desire!  We are not in Christ to follow our own desires; we are in Christ to humble ourselves to the will of God.

Perseverance

Jude ends this section of condemnation with a call to persevere.  He says that there will be many who fall away.  There will be those who intentionally cause division.  But we are not to be that way.  We are to pursue the truth.  We are to live in mercy and love.  We are to wait.  Part of being a disciple of Jesus Christ is relying upon Him and waiting for the time to be right.

Doxology

While I may be skeptical that we have the translation quite right, I do have to confess that the book of Jude contains one of the most beautiful doxologies in the Bible.  Jude causes us to focus on the fact that Jesus Christ is powerful enough to keep us from sin.  After 2,000 years of theology, this seems like such a no-brainer.  We make such a statement without even thinking about it!

However, while we make such a statement with complete ease the truth is that we find it impossible to live out such a statement in our life.  We know Jesus is the only way.  We confess Jesus is the only way.  But we need to be reminded to focus upon this fact daily.  It is so easy to say.  It is so difficult to live out.

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Year 3, Day 250: Nahum 3

Reasons for Downfall

Nahum declares in this concluding chapter all of the reasons for the downfall of Assyria.  He begins pretty intently in the opening verse.  Nahum calls Nineveh the bloody city.  That says a lot right there.  God is judging them because they are a bloody and violence-loving culture.  I’ve spoken elsewhere on the violence of Assyria.  They had a reputation for being atrociously violent.  They would take captives and cut off hands and feet and ears and noses, or gouge out their eyes, or lop off their heads and then they would bind these severed bodies and parts to vines or heap them up before city gates.  In particularly harsh cases, captives could be impaled or flayed alive through a process in which their skin was gradually and completely removed.  There is just something wrong about that.  Apparently, God agrees.

However, their violence is not God’s only concern.  They are also full of lies.  Their mouths are deceitful.  They would say one thing yet do whatever pleased their heart.  Politically, they were untrustworthy.  You could have no outside relationship with them because they said whatever needed to be said knowing that they would do whatever they wanted instead.  In fact, the Assyrians often sold their military power so that the military could get familiar with the area of their allies and then invade them once they’ve accurately assessed their strengths, weaknesses, and fortifications.

Yet, this is also not the end of the list.  God calls them a city of plunder.  They were hoarders.  They took and stole from other people and amassed wealth in their own city.  They did not take what God gave to them; they took what God had given to others!  God does not care for us very much when we take from others what He did not intend for us to have.  Whether we take it through might (war) or intelligence (commerce), if God did not desire for us to have it then it is a mistake when we find ourselves in possession of something that belongs to another person.

Since they acted in shame, God would shame them in the end.  They would come to ruin.  Nations around them would see that they were fallen but do nothing to help them up.  In fact, so great is the shame that people will actually shrink back from Assyria.  Assyria will be judged so hard that others will recoil from being “too much like them” or “too much in their midst.”

Comparison to Thebes

God then lifts up the example of Thebes in the midst of Nahum.  Thebes – symbolically to be thought of as Egypt – was beside the Nile just as Assyria was among the Tigris and Euphrates.  She felt that she had a natural means of protection from her enemies just as Nineveh felt security behind its own walls.  Thebes even thought that she had allies much like the Assyrians had vassal states that paid them tribute.

Yet, As Egypt fell, so would Assyria.  In fact, God had brought Assyria to Egypt to judge Egypt.  However, God would now bring along Babylon to judge Assyria.  If Assyria was in the same position as Thebes and Thebes was judged, Assyria could expect the same.

Useless

As we close this chapter – and the book – we discover that the fall of Assyria actually has much in common with the fall of the Hebrew people.  The nobles are “asleep.”  The shepherds are asleep.  The things in which the Assyrians put their trust in will fail them.  The Assyrians have become a people whose leadership is only interested in their own desires and the words and warnings of the truly wise go unheeded.

I think this is interesting, and it really does point us to quite an incredible dynamic of humanity.  When we become strong and powerful, we always lose sight of what got us there.  We become complacent.  Our hearts change and instead of seeking hard work and true counsel we seek entertainment, pleasure, and ease.  Instead of looking for opportunities to strive forward, we instead seek vacation and relaxation and having things “our way.”

We are an interesting creation.  We are willing to work hard to get somewhere, but once we arrive we slip and slide and backtrack and fall.  We see it with the Hebrew people.  We see it with the Assyrians.  We’ll see it with the Babylonians.  We see it with the Persians, the Greeks, and we especially see it in the Roman Empire.  We see it in England.  We see it in China.  We see it in ourselves, don’t we?

Woe to any country whose shepherds are asleep, whose nobles slumber, whose princes are like grasshoppers, and whose people multiply like locusts.  When we seek the easy road in the desires of our own hearts we often go astray and come into judgment.

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Year 3, Day 249: Nahum 2

The Task of the Executioner

In this chapter we will hear Nahum’s prophecy of the destruction of Assyria.  Historically we know it happened at the hand of the Babylonians.  But there is something powerful to hear in the fall of Assyria.

Remember that Assyria was called by God to mete out His judgment against Israel.  The Assyrians were the tool in the hand of God.  They were called to bring Israel into captivity.

Yet, there are many ways to accomplish this task.  There is a malicious and vindictive way that treats those under judgment as though they are unworthy of life.  This is the method Assyria used.  They came to Israel and were cruel.  They killed without mercy.  They tore down with no compassion.  They killed women and children simply to drive home the point that the Hebrew people were conquered and had no hope.  From a strictly worldly perspective, the Assyrians were doing what they thought necessary to put the threat of Israel below them so they would never have to deal with them again.

But what we hear in this chapter of Nahum is that God is offended when we take the malicious approach.  When God asks us to mete out His judgment, He doesn’t want us to do it without mercy.  When called upon to hand out God’s judgment He desires us to do it with the same grace and compassion that He has in treating us.

Don’t get me wrong here.  We all need judgment. We all make mistakes and need correction – especially me!  It is possible to smash those who make mistakes under our feet so that they never get back up.  It is also possible to come along beside them demonstrate their mistakes and walk with them as they repair their life.

Assyria chose the malicious path.  As a result of that choice, the “scatterer” has come against them.”  God had planned for Israel to come alive again.  When Assyria took a course that would prevent such a reality, Assyria went from being the executioner to being in need of judgment itself.  That is unfortunate.  You don’t want to follow that example.  Rather, execute God’s justice with love and mercy that allows the judged to repent and rebuild.  In such a way you open the door for God to do the same to you!

Helplessness in the Face of God

Nahum 2:2-7 gives us an idea of what it feels like to transition from God’s executioner to the one in need of God’s judgment.  For the record, I’m willing to bet we’ve all been there.  We’ve all made that transition from being called by God to do something and then going too far and needing to be reigned in ourselves.  I know I have, more than once!

What we see in verse 3 is that the favor of the Lord is upon a new people.  We know them to be the Babylonians.  The Babylonians will be the nation that brings judgment upon the Assyrians.  These are the mighty soldiers spoken of in verse 3.  These are the ones now called upon to mete out God’s judgment.

In verses 4-7 we hear how the Assyrians respond.  Their chariots race through the streets.  Their soldiers run to the walls and ramparts, although they stumble along the way.  But they are not effective.   The Assyrians will fall.  When the favor of God was with them, they were strong and mighty.  Now that the favor of the Lord is with another and the wrath of God is upon the Assyrians they are weak and unable to defend themselves.

Here we get another reminder of a powerful lesson.  When we are strong, it is God’s strong arms that are holding us up.  Our power is nothing when compared to God’s power.  Want to be mighty?  Humble yourself before the Lord and see what He shall do!  The path to great strength begins not with flexing your own muscles but rather in submitting to the omnipotent power of God. 

This is the lesson the Assyrians forgot.  They tried to rely upon their own strength.  They found themselves in judgment because of that error.

Result

The end of this chapter is profound.  In verse 8 we hear that Assyria is like a reservoir.  When the Assyrians fell, the whole of their wealth and prosperity was open to be plundered by the Babylonians.  The Assyrians had amassed and plundered much of the wealth of the northern nations in the Middle East.  In taking Nineveh, Babylon now had easy access to that which was so nicely collected for them.  Oh how easily wealth trades hands when it is amassed into one place!

We also hear much about lions in Nahum, which is unique because lions are not frequently talked about in Hebrew culture.  However, in Assyria the lion was the national animal.  Assyria kings hunted lions for sport.  When Assyrian kings would defeat a foreign power they would often make comparisons about themselves to lions such as “like a mighty lion I raged.”  Assyrian national art often contained lions in a mighty pose – not unlike the “lion rampant” imagery we also see in pre-industrial England.  So what is God’s point with the speech about the lions through Nahum?  God is saying that the ferocity of Assyria will be hunted down.  Their den will be routed.  Even their young lions will be brought down.

Again we see a reminder to be humble before God.  What a great way to end.

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Year 3, Day 248: Nahum 1

Introduction to Nahum

Nahum was a prophet to Nineveh, which you will remember is where Jonah was called by God to go.  However, unlike when Nineveh repented upon hearing Jonah’s message, Nineveh will not repent when Nahum gives his prophetic message.  We know historically what happened.  Assyria was sent into judgment under Babylonian assault because of their unwillingness to repent and be humble before God. 

We believe this oracle from Nahum was spoken between 663 BC and 612 BC.  The fall of Thebes is mentioned in Nahum 3:8, which occurred in 663 BC.  Of course, 612 BC is the year that Assyria fell to Babylon.  We cannot know for certain when in this timeframe the book of Nahum was written, but many scholars believe that is was written closer to the fall of Thebes than to the Babylonian conquest over the Assyrians.

Character of God

Let’s start with a look at the side of God with which Nahum begins this message.  “Jealous.”  “Avenging.”  “Wrathful.”  “Taking vengeance.”  “Keeping wrath.”  “Slow to anger.”  “Powerful.”  “Whirlwind.”  “Storm.”  “Clouds.”  “Rebuking.”

Is there any wonder that Nahum reaches the conclusion that the mountains quake before God?  Is there any surprise in the proclamation that the whole world melts before Nahum?  Who can stand in the presence of the Lord?

Now that I’ve filled you with both a sense of awe and dread, allow me to circle back and pick up one more fairly oppressive thought that I skipped over.  “The Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.”  If that isn’t a verse that will put a lump in your throat I honestly don’t know what will.

I want to look at this verse from two perspectives.  First, from the perspective of universal salvation.  There are people out there who are actively proclaiming that all will be saved.  There are people out there convinced that God will not convict anyone or judge anyone as deserving the consequence of Hell.  This verse alone shows how such a witness is wrong.  Yes, God is love.  But in the midst of His love are words like “jealous,” “avenging,” and “powerful.”  God is not condemning people to Hell as much as He is allowing them to chose their own eternal fate.  God will not force any of us to choose Him just as He will not force any of us to choose the ways of the world.  Universal salvation and the belief that Hell will be empty is a dangerous and theologically incorrect position to take.

Second, I’d like to look at this verse with respect to salvation by grace.  Certainly not all will be saved.  The guilty will be condemned.  Which raises the question, “Are we not all guilty?”  If we are all guilty, how can any of us be saved if “God will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.”

This is the brilliance of the Messiah.  You see, there is a distinction between the “guilty” and the “repentant.”  Yes, each of us is guilty of sin and rebellion from God.  Many continue to live their entire life in such a state.  However, some repent.  Some learn what it is like to humble themselves before God.  While they certainly continue to show signs of rebellion, such rebellion is confessed when exposed.  Such rebellion is rejected even if it was embraced during the act or thought.  Those who repent and come humbly before their God also know that they cannot trust in anything of their own doing to be saved.  So we turn to Christ and His blood on the cross.  Through Christ, our guilt is atoned.  In Christ – and only in Christ, God’s Messiah – are we declared free from our guilt.  Thus, in an amazing act of grace God takes us and says to us, “Through Christ, you are no longer in the category of guilty.”

So, yes.  God will not leave the guilty unpunished.  But in Christ, we find the way to leave the category of guilty behind.  Turn to God.  Humble yourself right now.  Acknowledge your guilt before God and ask Him to come to You.  Only He can change you from “guilty” to “not guilty.”  Only He can move you for being under the umbrella of “needing to be punished” to “free of His punishment.”

I see it much like Nahum.  God is a fortress.  He can be where we take refuge from the world.  Or He can be the one who pours out wrath upon you if you are of the world.  He can shelter those found within Him while cutting down those who are not.  Consider wisely this choice.  In Him or out.  Free or guilty.  Refuge or wrath.  Humbly repent to be saved or stand in your pride to be cut down in His anger.

Time

At the end of the chapter we hear Nahum tell the Assyrians that their time is at hand.  There is a time when God will say enough.  He said enough to the Egyptians.  He said enough to the Assyrians.  He said enough to the Babylonians.  He said enough to His own people.  He said enough to the Persians.  He said enough to the Greeks.  He said enough to the Romans.

God has a pretty good track record of saying enough when humanity falls away from His ways.  Why would we think we are any different?

No, I would rather be in the people of God’s peace.  I would rather be found in the proclamation of Good News.  I deserve wrath, certainly.  But through a little humility and humbleness I can instead find peace and good news.  What is a lifetime of humbleness before God if it means that I can receive a peace that I do not deserve?

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Year 3, Day 247: Micah 7

The Last of the Seven Chapters

Here we so quickly come upon the end of this book.  But Micah has waited for the end of the book for a very important chapter.  It is here where Micah pleads with the Lord.  We can learn an incredible truth here in this book.  A person who proclaims God’s truth must wait and listens to the Lord as his first priority.  It is easy for us to think we know what to say.  It is even easy for us to try and argue with God.  But the prophet’s first calling is to listen.  If we are to proclaim truth, we must get in the habit of listening before speaking.

For the record, this isn’t an indictment of the other prophets who talk to the Lord throughout their whole books as opposed to Micah who only speaks in the end.  You see, most of the other prophets have multiple visions and multiple communications stretched out over the course of their ministry.  So they are listening first, speaking second.  They are just going through multiple iterations within each of their books.  Here in Micah we have a single grand message followed up by Micah’s response to that singular message.

Micah Takes an Honest Look

Having received a message from God, one of the first things that Micah does is take an honest look around him.  He realizes that the Hebrew people are falling away from God and fading rather quickly according to the ways of the Lord.  He compares the current state of the Hebrew people as when the harvest has already been gathered.  There is nothing left within them that is useful for sustaining people.  That’s a pretty potent analogy if I’ve ever heard one!

People look to hurt one another.  Public officials look for ways to become rich rather than bring about justice.  Rather than being a community they are at best a collection of individuals.  That’s a fairly scary notion when you think about it.  Great nations are built on their desire to look out for one another and lift one another up.  Great nations are not a pile of individual stones but rather many stones composing a single unified wall.  Unfortunately, the Hebrew people have come to the place where in their comfort they look to increase their own comfort.  They are not a singular great wall; they are a pile of individual stones.

I can’t help but think of the modern western world when I go through these thoughts.  What made the west strong?  We worked together.  We had a communal identity.  It meant something to be American.  We had a common set of values, ethics, and morality.  What have we become?  We still have a common ethic and morality: whatever is best for me right now!  Sure, we all believe the same thing; the problem is our belief has shifted from the good of the community to the good of the individual.  I think this is a terrible shift.  It brought about the downfall of the Hebrew people.  It brought about the downfall of many other nations along the way.  If we’re not careful, it will be our undoing as well.

This is what I love about verse 7.  Micah sees wisdom where it resides.  Micah says “As for me, I will look to the Lord.”  Micah knows the secret to diffusing the “instant-gratification-all-about-me” lifestyle.  Turn to God.  Focus on God.  Humble yourself.

Judgment Comes

Verses 8-10 give us quite an interesting perspective into life.  Micah actually seems to embrace the burden of judgment.  He knows that he has sinned.  He knows that he bears God’s indignation because of that sin.  But he embraces that reality and actually looks forward to judgment!  Micah knows that in judgment he will find the cure for that which ails him.  Like a criminal who commits a crime subconsciously to be caught, Micah looks forward to judgment.  Like a youth who feels relief when they are caught so that through the discipline of the parent an out-of-control life can regain balance, Micah looks forward to judgment.

Micah knows that for the repentant sinner judgment will be tough.  People will look on with derision.  However, Micah knows that God will turn shame into glory through the judgment of the repentant.  Now that’s living life with the perspective of God!

Appeal to God

Micah ends this book with an appeal to God.  First, Micah asks God to once again shepherd His people.  He asks God to not send away the people into perpetual judgment but rather to one day bring them back and allow them to enjoy the comforts of the land to which God has promised them.  Micah knows that judgment is necessary, but he asks God to allow that judgment to pass so that there can be a time of dwelling with the Lord once more.  Again we see the prophet force himself to look through the despair and into the hope of the things to come beyond judgment.

The second appeal is actually a note of praise to God’s character.  Micah reminds himself that God is unlike any other power in the world.  God forgives iniquity.  God does not retain His anger in spite of the fact that we as human beings have no hope of appeasing it.  God delights in love more than anger.  God is the one who can deal with our sins.  God casts our sins away from Him.  God is faith and steadfast in spite of how we behave.

God is rather incredible.  Amen.  What a way to end the study of a book of the Bible!

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Year 3, Day 246: Micah 6

The Lord’s Query

Micah 6 begins with an honest question from the Lord.  God wants to know just how He has wearied His people.  He can see quite plainly that they have abandoned His ways.  He desires to know why.

Through Micah, God reminds the people that it was He who brought them up out of slavery from Egypt.  He freed them from oppression.  He set Moses and Aaron and Miriam before them to lead them.  Through Moses, the Hebrew people received the Law.  Is any of this a bad thing?

The short answer to the Lord’s query is “no.”  What has the Lord done to His people but bring them out of captivity, give them rules that make social interaction possible, and then deliver them into a land that can absolutely sustain their life!  Everything that the Lord has done has been geared for the successful life of the Hebrew people.

What is unspoken in these verses is the reality of humanity.  We want all the good without any of the effort, don’t we?  Yes, freedom is a good thing.  But we want it handed to us as though it is our right instead of having to work and struggle with justice each and every day.  We want an ordered life where things go according to schedule, but we aren’t usually inclined to put in the effort to make that happen.  We want a successful life filled with good relationships and feelings of accomplishment but we don’t want to turn to the God that can make that happen.

You see, it isn’t that the Lord has done anything bad to drive away the people at all.  The reality is that human beings just don’t have it within us to stay loyal to the plan!  We don’t have it within us to be accountable to do what it takes to live as a society where all people can know joy.  No, we are inherently self-mongers.  We think of ourselves first in most circumstances.  The problem isn’t with what God has done.  The problem is that we cannot properly respond to what God has done.

Walk Humbly with Your God

And now we come upon one of the most famous passages in the book of Micah.  What does the Lord require of us?  He has blessed us so lavishly, what does He ask in response to this gift?  The answer is simple.  “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Here we see what I spoke about in the prior section.  God has told us what is good.  He has shown us the way!  All he asks is for us to practice justice, do kindness, and walk humbly.

What’s really scary is that none of those concepts are all that hard.  Our country is supposedly built upon the foundation of justice – so you would think we shouldn’t have a difficult time appreciating justice.  {Although admittedly, justice is something that I believe is easily skewed in the eyes of the beholder.}  As a people – especially a Christian people – we shouldn’t have any difficulty appreciating kindness.  Those two concepts are not terribly difficult for us to understand as human beings.

I think it is the third one, the generic one, that gives us the most trouble.  I believe that we do not desire to walk humbly before our God.  Justice is perverted when it is our own justice and not God’s justice that is sought.  Kindness towards others is lost when we put ourselves first.  It is when we forget to be humble and remember our place with respect to God that things get out of whack.  We begin to believe what we want to believe and do what we think is right in our own mind.  Society never goes along all that well once we begin that process.

Judgment Comes

As we would expect to follow a passage denouncing the ways that people turn from God, we get a passage on judgment.  God tells the Hebrew people that he has had enough of their deceitful economic practices.  He has had enough of their malicious and venomous tongues.  He has had enough of their violent lifestyle.  To put it simply, God is fed up with the Hebrew people and their rebellion.

So what does God say that He will do to them?  He will let them follow their pursuits and let them see how far they get on their own.  Let them just try to find true satisfaction without Him and His ways.  Let them try to find fulfillment in pursuing their own paths.  Let them try and store up and persevere under their own strength and provision.  Let them try to bring about a harvest when their focus is on their own efforts and farming techniques.

When we forget God, God often allows us to walk freely down that path.  That’s what free will is all about, isn’t it?  We as human beings have to be allowed to walk away from God if we so desire it.  Sure, He will continue to call to us; but He will not force us to respond to His call.

Woe to the nation that does walk away from God.  Woe to the nation that relies upon its own definition of justice.  Woe to the nation that is convinced in its own science and technique that it can feed the world.  Woe to the nation that tries to find fulfillment in the emptiness of pop culture.  Woe to the nation that tries to find satisfaction in our own success.  When any nation walks away from God, it gets the fruit of such labor.

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Year 3, Day 245: Micah 5

Insignificance in the Midst of Worldly Values

Micah 5:1 likely speaks of Zedekiah, the ruler under whom Jerusalem finally fell to Babylon.  Babylon took Jerusalem by siege.  Zedekiah was captured, his sons were killed before his presence, and immediately his eyes were put out before he was dragged to Jerusalem.  Zedekiah was a king who thought himself much; he was a king humbled before God.

Micah 5:2 shifts to a new ruler over the people of God.  This ruler is to be born in Bethlehem – a most unlikely of places.  In fact, Bethlehem is not even included in the list of towns when Joshua takes the Promised Land originally (Joshua 15) or when Nehemiah returns after the Babylonian conquest to rebuild the land (Nehemiah 11).  According to the world’s perspective, leaders come from the wealthy, the elite, the popular, the charismatic, are the traditionally powerful.  Leaders aren’t typically looked for among the unknown.  God’s Messiah, however, would come from people and places easily overlooked.

Another interesting point within these opening verses is the stress upon the middle of verse 2.  The Messiah will come from Bethlehem to do work for God.  Here we see one of the greatest virtues of the Messiah.  Here’s is God’s anointed.  Here is God’s chosen one.  Here is the greatest leader to come to earth.  What is His greatest trait?  He understands His place.  He is here to do the will of God.

Now, when we speak about the Messiah, this may seem like it’s not the world’s deepest thought.  After all, we know that Jesus was the Son of God so it makes sense that He is able to follow God closely.  Where the wisdom in this thought comes into play is when I begin to look at my own life.  When am I in the most trouble?  When am I most likely going to mess things up?  When am I most likely to need God to save me from myself?  Simply put, when I’m going off on my own and no longer bending my will to the will of God.  Yes, that’s right.  What makes the Messiah great points directly to where I need the most help.  Life is better when I am about the will of God.

In the Midst of the Nations

Micah takes us back to look at the remnant.  Now that Micah has spoken about the Messiah who would lead the remnant, it is time to look at the remnant proper.  This is why the understanding of verse 7 is so neat.  We hear that the remnant should be in the midst of many peoples.  In verse 8 we hear that the remnant will be among the nations.

Of course, it is natural to think historically about these verses.  The Hebrew people were under the captivity of the Assyrians and Babylonians.  The Persians governed over them but allowed them to return home.  The Greeks dominated over them.  The Romans dominated over them and absolutely crushed their culture.  It’s easy to hear of these empires and think of this process as the fulfillment of these verses.

However, I think there is an even better understanding here.  If Christ is the Messiah, then it makes sense to see the remnant as His followers.  And what has happened to the followers of Christ?  The Gospel has been spread throughout the entire world.  Every continent has people upon it who proclaim Jesus as Lord.  The remnant is indeed in the midst of all the nations.

Following God

As we look to the ending verses here in Micah 5, we understand all of the things that God will cut out.  We start with horses and chariots.  Turn to Deuteronomy 17:16.  It’s clear that these verses are meant to indicate that God will take away the worldly influence of Egypt from within them.  What does Egypt represent but the bondage of the world?

In verses 11 and 12 we hear about God’s desire to take away the cities and the strongholds and the sorcery and the fortune-telling and the carved images and the Asherah poles.  These are the trappings of civilization, especially the original inhabitants of the land.  The Canaanites were not purged from the land, and the Hebrew people succumbed to the sins of the people.  God is telling the remnant that they will learn to focus on God and God’s ways and not the trappings of worldly life.

I think this is an awesome point within this chapter.  What is the traditional worldly understanding of the Messiah?  The belief was that the Messiah would come and make the Hebrew people rule the world.  But what is God actually saying in these verses?  The Messiah will come and lead a remnant into a life that is focused on God’s ways and not the ways of the world.  The Messiah isn’t about making us great in the world.  The Messiah is about refocusing us on God and away from this world.

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Year 3, Day 244: Micah 4

A Vision of the Future

Micah cannot dwell in the judgment for too long.  That’s the funny thing about prophets.  So often prophets cannot help but look to the world and see all the problems contained within it.  Often it is depressing to be a prophet because we understand just where the world is and where the world is headed if they don’t change.  Having that vision of the short-term future with respect to the world can really take a toll on a person!

So Micah now turns to the extended future.  It may be a future that is beyond his lifetime.  It may be a future that the people to whom he is speaking will not know in a physical sense.  But Micah has to turn to that time because for a prophet, the future of God’s reign is where the hope and promise truly rests.  So many prophets turn to the ultimate future of God’s direct reign because they know that so long as human beings are in control that “most great men will be bad men.”  Only when God reigns will a truly good leader reside.

I actually believe that this is why the end of the world is a topic that is often spoken about among evangelicals.  I believe that there are a fairly large number of people among evangelicals who are either gifted with a prophet’s vision or who can easily tap that area even if it isn’t their primary gift in ministry.  When you have people who can so easily look at the world around them and know confidently where the world is headed unless it turns to God, you also have a people who must frequently turn to a future vision of hope in God’s reign.

The Mountain of God

So when Micah looks ahead to the future kingdom of God, what does he see?  Micah sees a place of justice.  Micah sees a place where people willingly say, “Let us come to the mountain of God, for there we can be taught by God and walk in His ways.”  For Micah, one of the key principles in the reign of God is that people will recognize that His ways are better and they will act upon that realization.

I think that understanding Micah’s focus is important for two reasons.  As with all prophetic voices, it gives us a glimpse into the current reality as well as points to the ideal.  The current reality is that for Micah he doesn’t see people valuing the precepts of God.  He doesn’t see people turning to God and saying, “He can show us a better way.”  Even among God’s own people this cannot be seen! 

I don’t think that we genuinely have this practice across the modern world, either.  Certainly there are flares of it here and there – as there were in Micah’s day.  But certainly there is no worldwide movement to understand that God’s desires are better than our desires.

Second, Micah’s vision helps point us to the ideal.  The ideal is that God’s people will be a part of God’s demonstration as to why His ways are better.  God’s people help make it known and understandable why God’s ways are better.  After all, who would ever follow the diet of a person who is grossly obese?  Who would ever listen to a marriage counselor who has been divorced five times in their life?  Who would ever follow a pastor who can’t demonstrate a relationship with God’s Word?  When God is truly in charge, God’s people will live according to God’s statutes and be the demonstration of why God’s ways are worthwhile.

Promise of the Future

In the last third of this chapter we can see who it is that God picks up as the remnant: the lame, the cast off, and the afflicted.  Notice who are left off the list: those who oppress others and who should rightfully be leading.  I think the point of God is clear.  You don’t get to become a part of the remnant by your status and by your ability to follow your own desires.  If you find yourself backing away from what God is calling you to do, you might want to rethink that decision.  If you find yourself using what God has given to you as a means of increasing your worldly pleasure, you might want to take notice.

It is the lame, the cast off, and the afflicted that are the remnant.  It is these that God will make into a strong nation.  The tough ones who come through persecution with their eyes still focused on God are the ones that God turns into His strength.

In fact, Micah makes a really awesome point as he slowly transitions back to the coming persecution under Assyria and Babylon.  He says that it is actually through this persecution that the Lord will make them strong.  The Lord isn’t just going to rescue them but He will make them strong in the persecution!  That’s an incredible promise; yet it is also a very high bar.

It will be easy for the Hebrew people to succumb to the pressures of the persecution.  Historically, we know this to be true.  Most of Israel becomes absorbed into the Asssyrian culture and loses their heritage.  Many in Judah do the same.  Most of the Hebrew people go into captivity and simply become like the rest of the world just to survive.  As they become malleable to the world they lose their God.

It is a remnant – a word that means what’s left after most is gone or been destroyed – that will remain.  It is a small portion that will maintain their faith towards God.  It is a small portion that will not just persevere through the persecution but be made strong by it!  It is a small portion that will see God’s hand at work in the midst of the trials of the world and rather than assimilate the world they will cling to God!

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Year 3, Day 243: Micah 3

A Fun Set of Verses

Well, aren’t the first four verses in Micah rather pleasant?  As a pastor, sometimes I worry that I am being too blunt or direct.  I don’t think Micah ever had that concern.  And since these words are from God, it doesn’t look like God had that concern, either.  Truth is what it is.

So what is Micah saying here?  Micah is chastising the leadership of the Hebrew people.  He is saying that the people who are charged by God with being just have grown to hate good and love evil.  They are leading – if you can call it that – in such a way that the focus is upon themselves.  They are treating the people of their kingdom as though it is their duty to support the luxurious lifestyle of the leader.  The people are literally working their fingers to the bone – a modern analogy for the last two-third of Micah 3:2.  And for what?  The people work insanely hard so that the leaders can have a comfortable life.

Yeah.  God has an issue with this.  God did not create leaders to live in the lap of luxury.  God created leaders to lead … wait for it … by example.  Remember Moses in the wilderness?  He was so swamped with being busy that he needed help.  Moses wasn’t living in the lap of luxury, he was out slaving around with all the other people trying to eke out some kind of lifestyle with everyone else.  It was hard work!  Or maybe you’ve heard of this guy named Elijah who wore camel’s hair and ate locusts while the kings sat in their posh surroundings.  Perhaps you’ve heard of a guy named Jesus who was born into a simple carpenter’s family, who lived a simple life, and who died on a cross for the sake of the people!  God doesn’t call leaders to sit in luxury while everyone else slaves through life.  God calls leaders to get in the trenches with people and work themselves just as much to the bone as everyone else.

Leaders are supposed to care about the people they are leading.  Of course, that doesn’t mean that leaders are supposed to do everything for the people.  But they are supposed to care for them.  They are supposed to set up a society that makes sense and is beneficial to the people.  They are supposed to set up a society that enables people to be productive.  But so often this is not the case.  Often leaders assume that power and privilege makes them superior and different.  Often leaders begin to feel entitled and better than everyone else.  They began to see other people as pawns, not people.

I’m reminded of a famous quote.  “Power corrupts.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”  This quote is often attributed to Lord Acton.  But have you ever heard the other half of that quote?  “Power corrupts.  Absolute power corrupts absolutely.  Great men are almost always bad men.”  Wow.  That’s powerful.  And I daresay not only powerful, but true.   It is what Micah finds so irritatingly irreprehensible. 

These people who are blessed at the very hand of God are turning and using that blessing as an advantage and an opportunity to oppress people.  No wonder God is angry.  Talk about talking good and turning it around for evil!

False Prophets

The rest of this chapter deals with proclamations of judgment upon the leaders.  The judgment is divided up into two sections.  First comes the judgment upon the prophets – the spiritual leaders of the community.

Micah forecasts that they will experience a darkness – a night.  They will be without divination.  I cannot imagine what a prophet feels like when their vision has been taken away from them.  Imagine a writer in perpetual writer’s block.  Imagine an army sharpshooter who suddenly wakes up blind.  Imagine a professional musician with a quick onset case of rheumatoid arthritis.  Imagine going through life unable to accomplish what you feel absolutely called to do.  That is the judgment upon those who use their gifts in ways unintended by God.  That is the judgment of those who take their incredible giftedness and turn it into a means to oppress others.

Ungodly Kings

The second group to be judged is the kings.  These are the political leaders.  Here are the policy makers and the figurehead role models.  It is their turn to see what the Lord will bring upon them.

God says that Zion shall be plowed like a field.  That which they have forced others to work hard for their own enjoyment shall be taken away.  Imagine an investor the day after a stock market crash.  Imagine a business owner who wakes up to find their employees on strike and nobody is willing to cross the picket line.  Imagine a singer who suddenly finds their audience is no longer interested in listening to them and buying their records.  This is what God promises to the kings.  Their pride and joy and luxurious life – build upon the effort of the hard work of others – is taken from them.  They are cast down from the mountain they built upon others.  That is the judgment of those who take their incredible giftedness and turn it into a means to oppress others.

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