May the mumbling commence!
If we are to love the Lord our God, we must ask ourselves, “What is it that the Lord would most want from us?” This question is particularly difficult to answer when we feel that we are surrounded by enemies raised up by the Lord. Read from Micah 4:11-13 –
But now many nations are gathered against you.
They say, "Let her be defiled, let our eyes gloat over Zion!"
But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord;
they do not understand his plan,
he who gathers them like sheaves to the threshing floor.
"Rise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion,
for I will give you horns of iron;
I will give you hoofs of bronze
and you will break to pieces many nations."
You will devote their ill-gotten gains to the Lord,
their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.
They gloat, and they prepare to pillage. But they do not know the mind of the Lord. Neither do we know the mind of the Lord. People who gloat and pillage will be crushed by the power of the Lord. All ill-gotten gains will return to the Lord; all wealth will go to the Lord of all creation. And Israel should recognize ill-gotten gain and wealth, for these were the very things that put them in this precarious position. Read from Micah 6:6-16 –
With what shall I come before the Lord
and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.
Listen! The Lord is calling to the city –
and to fear your name is wisdom –
"Heed the rod and the One who appointed it.
Am I still to forget, O wicked house,
your ill-gotten treasures and the short ephah,
which is accursed?
Shall I acquit a man with dishonest scales,
with a bag of false weights?
Her rich men are violent;
her people are liars and their tongues speak deceitfully.
Therefore, I have begun to destroy you,
to ruin you because of your sins.
You will eat but not be satisfied; your stomach will still be empty.
You will store up but save nothing,
because what you save I will give to the sword.
You will plant but not harvest;
you will press olives but not use the oil on yourselves,
you will crush grapes but not drink the wine.
You have observed the statutes of Omri
and all the practices of Ahab's house,
and you have followed their traditions.
Therefore I will give you over to ruin and your people to derision;
you will bear the scorn of the nations."
It is easy to see the sins of others when they mirror your own sins. It is much easier to dwell on the sins of others than dwell on our own propensity to sin. Pain and agony come when we separate ourselves from the Lord. Yes, we are the ones who initiate separation. The Lord our God wants us to walk humbly, attentively, with Him. This walk includes just acting measured by a love of mercy. For, as Jesus has told us, the way we judge others is the way we will be judged.
And each person in humanity is guilty of the same sins! Let us act justly and love mercy. To do these things means that we must walk attentively with our God. Otherwise, we will revert to our wicked, accursed, deceitful and violent ways. Our way is evident all over the nightly news, but God’s way is not our way.
I come to you, O God, so that you may remove the brainwashing of this world – so that I may see the world through the eyes of Jesus.
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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