It's Not Them: It's Us (Micah 2:3-5)

It is always easier to see evil and bad behavior in others.  It's a kind of distraction away from looking at ourselves too closely. Jesus made this clear in one of His more memorable metaphors: 

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, "Let me take the speck out of your eye," when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. (Matt. 7:3-5)

If your gaze is always outward, seeing the what others should be doing or not doing, then you are not seeing your own shortcomings and not trying to remedy them. In fact your own failures will give you a kind of blindness, for you'll measure the person by your own standards, and not see how deficient your standards really are.  "I am not as bad as you!" is not a fair and just way to assess the behavior of others. 

That very blindness will cause you to do more harm than good. You think you are helping the person when in fact you are injuring or alienating them with your insensitivity. 

It is so easy for the Israelites to look upon their pagan neighbors and say, "Hey, we are not like those people!"  The more honest among them may have said, "Yeah, we are like those people, but we don't let things get out of hand."  

Either way, a plank of hypocrisy is making it hard for the Israelites to see the sin in their dealings with each other.  The injustice is coming not from pagans, but from the wealthy among them:

Woe to those who plan iniquity,
to those who plot evil on their beds!
At morning’s light they carry it out
because it is in their power to do it.
They covet fields and seize them,
and houses, and take them.
They defraud people of their homes,
they rob them of their inheritance. (Micah 2:1-2)

Instead of railing about the evil pagan practices the Israelites engage in (that will come later), Micah is pointing out in no uncertain terms how the wealthy are defrauding the poor, after much planning and plotting. This is utterly reprehensible. The wealthy landowners have power and use it to hurt their fellow Israelites--the ones who have very little and now with such evil people dealing with them, have even less or nothing at all.

You'd think Micah would then go on and talk about the pagan practices that stir God's anger.

No.

This kind of injustice stirs God's anger:

I am planning disaster against this people,
from which you cannot save yourselves.
You will no longer walk proudly,
for it will be a time of calamity.
In that day people will ridicule you;
they will taunt you with this mournful song:
"We are utterly ruined;
my people’s possession is divided up.
He takes it from me!
He assigns our fields to traitors."
Therefore you will have no one in the assembly of the Lord
To divide the land by lot." (2:3-5)

What goes around comes around: You defraud your fellow Israelites out of land with no remorse. "Your" (you took it from the poor) land will now be taken from you. Who will do this? The Assyrians. You will be as to them what the poor has been to you.

God is warning His people that their callous injustice has blinded them to the storm clouds that are gathering around them. They are so busy scheming that they do not see nor care that there are other people who are scheming against them.

I am thinking of this important quote from Pastor Niemoller. He was "a prominent Lutheran pastor in Germany. In the 1920s and early 1930s, he sympathized with many Nazi ideas and supported radically right-wing political movements. But after Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, Niemöller became an outspoken critic of Hitler’s interference in the Protestant Church. He spent the last eight years of Nazi rule, from 1937 to 1945, in Nazi prisons and concentration camps." [1]

Here is the quote:

"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."

The wealthy landowners in Samaria did not care about what they were doing, for they benefitted from the system they help to sustain. They never thought that what they did to others would one day be visited on them. They thought they'd always be in control and have resources to survive any challenges that came along.

Niemoller is making the very uncomfortable point that if we do not speak out about injustice being done to others, or worse, perpetrate injustice ourselves, the day may come when no one will care about what is being done to us. We alienated our neighbor with our callousness, and now our neighbor is either unwilling or unable to help us.

I am not talking about running out into the streets and screaming about injustice. (Is that the most productive way of solving a problem?) I think the people of God better serve injustice by providing resources and places where people can go to receive help, healing and compassion. Changed hearts change society. 

We need to cultivate relationships based on kindness and compassion. We love our neighbor as ourselves, because that very love is an extension of the love we have for God. We love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and spirit and our neighbor gets that overflow.

Remember how Jesus answered Peter's question about, "Who is my neighbor?" with the parable of the good Samaritan? Sometimes those who have felt the brunt of scorn and alienation can be the most sensitive to when it is happening around them. The Samaritan could relate to the man in the ditch, because he had been in society's ditch for a long time.

Maybe Pastor Niemoller's blindness came from the fact that he didn't rub elbows with any of the groups he mentioned; they were just people, not neighbors.

We must remove those planks from our eyes, if we are trying to help others and act justly. Our blindness may cause more harm than good, or perhaps inadvertently foment more injustice.

God wanted His people to have utter clarity about what being His people meant as they followed Him, and how that was best demonstrated by how they treated one another:

He has shown you, O mortal, 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. (Micah 6:8)

 

[1] "Martin Niemoller: First They Came For..."

https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/martin-niemoeller-first-they-came-for-the-socialists

Prophets: Listen Up! (Micah 1:8-9)

Prophets react to the word of the Lord with fear and trembling; to those who do not know what is coming, (or do not want to know), the prophets seem crazy. They act in ways that are not part of the society's perception of how things are.  Prophets see how things are not, and the dire consequences that are on their way.  

Micah reacts to how the Lord is on His way, bringing judgment because of the transgressions of Judah and Samaria. Samaria is going to be reduced to a "heap of rubble" (v. 6).  Micah responds by saying: 

Because of this I will weep and wail; I will go about barefoot and naked.
I will howl like a jackal
and moan like an owl.
For Samaria’s plague is incurable;
it has spread to Judah.
It has reached the very gate of my people,
even to Jerusalem itself (1:8-9) 

Micah calls the people, "my people."  He is not standing at a distance, wagging his finger and saying that the people are getting what they deserve.  No. He identifies with them--not with their practices, which he detests--but with who they are.  They are covenant people, called to be a blessing to all the nations.  They have received a rich inheritance, one of blessings, abundance and God's presence. Yet, much to Micah's utter horror, they have thrown that all away to worship idols. 

Jesus laments in much the same way when He surveys Jerusalem, seeing what the future holds.  He has just finished excoriating the Pharisees for their utter disregard for the law of love.  These leaders have ignored this rich inheritance of blessings, abundance and God's presence by focusing on a kind of idolatrous worship of the Law, and not of the One who gave the Law.  Jesus says, 

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord”(Matt. 23:37-39). 

Jesus is quoting Psalm 118:26 specifically.  But His audience knew God's word, and could hear, echoing in the verse Jesus quotes, these words as well: 

The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
the Lord has done this,
and it is marvelous in our eyes.

The Lord has done it this very day;
let us rejoice today and be glad.

Lord, save us!
Lord, grant us success!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
From the house of the Lord we bless you.

The Lord is God,
and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
up to the horns of the altar.

You are my God, and I will praise you;
you are my God, and I will exalt you.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his love endures forever (22-29). 

Wow.  The Psalm has captured this very moment being fulfilled in Jesus. He is the rejected cornerstone, seemingly unworthy but will be an essential part of the new foundation that God is laying. One day, about 40 years into the future, this very House of God, the Temple, will be destroyed by a conquering pagan army, the Romans, in 70 AD.  

Earlier, the people greeted Jesus when He entered the city of Jerusalem, and they praised Him with hosannas in abundance. "Hosanna" means “I beg you to save!” or “please deliver us!” [1]  God is going to deliver the people with His Son. The leaders are standing there, already in the midst of planning His death, but their scheme will come to no avail.  The tomb will be empty. 

Jesus is also being quite unsubtle in using this psalm, for it exalts God. He is willing to accept the people's praise for help and salvation. In the psalm, those very cries of the heart are directed at God. 

God does not delight in having to punish His children.  He warns them, through His prophets, that He is a just God, and He will not stand idly by while His children engage in sin. God is not a divine Policeman, who gets angry when we break the rules.  No. Sin is as Jesus describes Satan:  It steals, kills and destroys.

It steals our shalom.  Sin creates chaos with its whirlwind of bad choices leading to bad consequences,  and then more bad choices seeking to undo those consequences, in a never-ending cycle. 

Sin kills our love for God, for one another and for life itself.  It mars the image of God in us, to where we see only us.  We hide in the shadows and we deny that we were made for more.  Sins also literally kills, for violence, rage, envy and anger cloud our judgment and all we want is resolution--at any cost.

Sin also destroys. We know enough of history to see how sin has marched, trampled, manipulated, violated and abused humanity, only to sow the seeds for the next installment of the same.  Justice is perverted into revenge and that leads to more revenge.

Micah wept over the upcoming catastrophe that awaited Samaria, who, because the people would not repent, experienced the brutality of a pagan army.   

Jesus wept over the upcoming catastrophe that awaited Jerusalem, who, because the people would not repent, experience the brutality of a pagan army. 

The Holy Spirit is weeping over us.  

 

[1] "What is the Meaning of Hosanna?" Gotquestions.org. https://www.gotquestions.org/hosanna.html

What Is Justice? Or Is It Just Us? Micah 1:1-7

 Hatred does not fix hatred.

Oppression does not fix oppression.

Tearing down statues does not change history.

Protesting and yelling hateful things does not create peace.

Accusations do not create repentance but resentment.

In other words, our demands for justice are based on just us--what we think the problem is and what the solution is. 

But: "You must understand this, my beloved brothers and sisters: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger, for human anger does not produce God’s righteousness." (James 1:19-20).  The word "righteousness" can also be translated "justice." 

This would imply that when we listen, choose our words with care and not allow our anger to fuel our search for justice, we demonstrate a heart that is sensitive to a standard greater than ourselves. We recognize and admit our failures, blindness, and shortcomings. This doesn't excuse us from seeking justice, but creates an environment where we acknowledge our need for humility and collaboration.  We must acknowledge that our opinions and beliefs have their limitations. 

In our anger over great injustices, we can make great mistakes. 

We are not the measure of all things. 

God is. 

God's standards, character and guidance for righting wrongs is essential in order to create society that reflects righteousness. Reflects justice.

  

His righteousness. His justice.

The prophets knew that trying to work with people who had actively rejected God for their own brand of justice and were trying to recreate a world made in their own image, would not succeed.  Why?  The flesh does create shalom.  Quite the opposite.  Paul shows us the fruit of the flesh: 

But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. I am warning you, as I warned you before: those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:18-21). 

Now scale up from an individual to a society filled with such individuals. These attitudes and behaviors are found in a society where the people have rebelled against the idea that true freedom is found only in God. 

Unchanged hearts will not change society for the better. Hearts that remain the same will be led by the flesh and a counterfeit justice will emerge, that will only sow more injustice as it goes. 

Changed hearts change society.  Hearts made anew with God's leading is where true justice is found.

Justice doesn't like a vacuum; if we don't use God's standard, we will create our own. Woe to any society based on our flesh.

So, the prophets came to remind the people that they needed to return to God.  They needed to confess (acknowledge their moral failures and rebellious ways); repent (turn and go the opposite way of the flesh, and head towards God) and humbly wait upon God for guidance and direction (instead of relying on their own fallacious thinking). 

Enter Micah. 

He is coming during the reigns of three kings of Judah and was concerned with Samaria and Jerusalem.

No southern kingdom versus northern kingdom here:  Both are morally corrupt and need to hear from God to recreate a just society.  Samaria is denounced first.

Hear, you peoples, all of you;
listen, O earth, and all that is in it,
and let the Lord God be a witness against you,
the Lord from his holy temple.
For the Lord is coming out of his place
and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
Then the mountains will melt under him,
and the valleys will burst open
like wax near the fire,
like waters poured down a slope.
All this is for the transgression of Jacob
and for the sins of the house of Israel (Micah 1:2-5).

Do you notice here that the LORD God (His covenant name--Hey Israel, remember the covenant you have with God? NO? Well, He does!) is on the move in all of His majesty?  This oracle is not just from a man standing on a street corner, pointing a finger and wailing that the end is near.  

It is God Himself who leaves His temple and walks mightily into Israel and into its capital, Samaria. All creation trembles as He walks. But lest Judah feel relieved that only Israel is going to receive God's judgment, Jerusalem in the southern kingdom is going to hear from God as well.  

God's house is the temple at Jerusalem, but it cannot contain nor restrain Him.  The whole earth is His court and He walks out of His temple as a King, who surveys His kingdom and finds injustice, much to His utter dismay. 

What is the transgression of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria?
And what is the high place of Judah?
Is it not Jerusalem? (Micah 1:5) 

Is there a play on words here?  Jerusalem is on a mountain, and is indeed a high place, but high places were also where pagans engaged in reprehensible worship practices and were joined by God's chosen people.

Jerusalem has become indistinguishable from a pagan shrine.  God is angry because of the utter repudiation of His covenant, where He called His people to be a blessing to all the nations (Gen. 12:3).

Not partners. 

Not participants. 

But priests and prophets who model, declare and display the beauty of holiness that is found in Yahweh alone. 

Consequence?

Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country,
a place for planting vineyards.
I will pour down her stones into the valley
and uncover her foundations.
All her images shall be beaten to pieces,
all her wages shall be burned with fire,
and all her idols I will lay waste;
for as the wages of a prostitute she gathered them,
and as the wages of a prostitute they shall again be used. (Micah 1:6-7) 

It's as if God is saying: 

You want paganism, Israel?  You play the part of a prostitute who whores after foreign gods, act in despicable ways and yet call on Me?  Sadly, I will allow a pagan army (you admire their ways so much, as if you want to be them) to come and do what pagans do best: kill, steal and destroy. 

Why does Judah think it will escape God's judgment?  That only Samaria will be judged? Because both kingdoms are filled with His chosen people?

No.  Both kingdoms are compromised to the point where they do not care, and silence those who do. 

Why do we think we will escape God's judgment?  Because we were founded on Christian principles?  No.  We are compromised to the point where many do not care and many silence those who do.

Exploring Our Next Prophet: Micah

Let's move on from Jonah to Micah, as we continue in our "Majoring in the Minor Prophets."

Not minor as in having little significance, but in length. 

Micah was prophesying around the time of Isaiah, between the years of 750 and 686 BC.  He spoke during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, who were kings in Judah.  He also was active during the time of Hosea. Micah spoke of the condition of the poor, before Hezekiah instituted his reforms. He predicted the fall of Samaria, which was the capital of Israel.  He also spoke about how Judah would one day come to ruin. [1]

God speaks through His people.  He uses circumstances to warn, guide and call for repentance in those who call upon His name.  

When judgement rolls down, people act shocked or amazed.  The warning signs were there all along, but people chose to ignore them.  If you are a history nerd, like me, you see that all throughout history, before any major event, the signs were very apparent something bad was going to happen if significant steps were not taken to remedy or alter the situation. 

Yes, hindsight is 20/20.  But the prophets tell us what God expects of His people.  Then, one day, after it is clear that people and their society are falling down a sinful rabbit hole, God will let His judgment come. 

Why?  

Because God is just.  He desires that "justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream" (Amos 5:25).

But I am not talking about man's definition of justice.  Far too often, people today are seeking to remedy injustice by blaming others and creating a new kind of oppression to remedy the old oppression: Because you did this to me, I have the right to do this to you.  But oppression does not fix oppression.  It creates resentment and one day, when people once again gain control, they will engage in payback.

It is similar to when people say, "Hey, I am a good person.  I don't do those terrible things that others do.  I am not a serial killer, criminal, bully, drunkard or abuser."  Rock on, and thank you for not engaging in those behaviors.

But we are not the standard, even those who live an admirable life.  

God is the standard.  

Suddenly, all of our self-righteous proclamations are seen for what they are: words that are come from hearts that are not humble.  Jesus gave us a wonderful parable that illustrates the kind of comparison  we make that pits us against others: 

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’"

But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner."

I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted (Luke 18:9-14).

Paul makes it clear that God is the standard for us: 

This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (Rom. 3: 22-24). 

God is also the standard of what being "just" mean. We may come up with all kinds of definitions, but at the core, we feel we have been wronged and something/someone must do something about it.  That is not the part that is problematic.  The "do something about it" part is where our flesh can waltz right in and start making demands, regardless of the consequences.  We want a quick fix, one that makes us feel better, now that people know our pain. 

When we have been wronged, wanting justice is completely understandable.  How we handle our  demands for justice being met is where our fallen flesh can trade one injustice for another. 

Wanting justice for wrongs committed against us is ultimately a cry against the Fall, where sin entered  and broke the beauty of creation.  We bear the image of God, and that mirror was marred by sin. We were called to be in relationship with God and each other, but now, we find an enormous amount of brokenness around us. We want to be connected to one another, but very often instead of love and community, we find brokenness, abuse, hurt and emptiness.  

But God's justice is deeper than reparation. It is about restoration: of hearts, relationships and society.

Enter the prophets.  They called out injustice, based on the standard of God's character, where lies, abuse, violence, exploitation, and murder are not acceptable in any way.  God's character is one of truth, compassion, peace, caring for others and preserving life.  He expects those who call on His name to reflect that not only in their lives but in their society. 

The prophets' message can be summarized in these verses from Micah 6:8:

He has told you, mortal one, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?  

Let's begin our next inquiry!

[1] The NIV Study Bible. Kenneth Barker, ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1985), 1370.    

 

How Can We Move From Fear to Faith?

How can we undergo His healing touch? An instructive story in the New Testament gives us a step-by-step process where we watch Jesus move a person from fear to faith.

It is found in Luke 5:17-26 (NIV): 

One day Jesus was teaching, and Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with Jesus to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.

When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, “Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?  Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the paralyzed man, “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”

Let’s unpack this story.

A man is paralyzed, and lies upon a mat. We don’t know how long he has been in this condition. No one needs to tell him of his affliction. Every day, when the sun rises, he cannot get up like the rest of the household. He needs someone to bring him food, help him to use the bathroom, and take him out of the house for fresh air.

Does he sometimes dream he is running and jumping, only to find that when he opens his eyes, the truth shakes him to his very soul? He knows his condition, and it saddens him deeply.

Our condition saddens us as well. We are all too well aware of our need.

He does have contact with his community. He isn’t isolated, staying in his house day by day, just hoping someone knows he is there. People know he is there. So, at some level, he is connected. He hasn’t yelled at people or raged at them to the point where, despite his pitiable condition, they ignore him.

He suffers and they know that. He doesn’t punish others for his affliction. He gratefully watches as they lift him up to take him to Jesus. Even with his limitations, he is willing to be a part of his community. He has not isolated himself so he eventually becomes forgotten.

We need to reach out to our community and connect with others. We need to be, even in our pain, gracious with the hands that lift us up. Their assistance should not be seen as a condemnation of us as weak; we need to thank God for those hands, for they are His.

Next, the men cannot find a way into the house where Jesus is teaching, for it is crowded. Do they give up?  Does the man on the mat say, “Oh, never mind. It’s not meant to be. Let’s go home. God doesn’t really care, or there would be a clear way into the house.”

No! These men get creative. Someone scouts out the roof and then returns, letting the rest know that they can come to Jesus through the roof.

Unconventional? Yes, but creative.

We need to be creative in how we look to the Lord for our healing. We may have to scout out different treatment plans, doctors, counselors or pastors, and be willing to look high and low for solutions. Rarely is there a clear way to solve a life-long problem. We have to be creative, flexible and take it step by step.

Now the men hoist the paralyzed man up to the roof. I’ll bet that took quite some time! They need to scout out the exact spot on the roof, get the man up to that spot, and then remove enough tiles to fit the man and his mat through safely. Then they have to lower him down, very carefully. Time. Effort. Maybe more time. Creativity. There are no quick fixes to our suffering. We may have to go through many time-consuming steps to finally get face to face with Jesus. But, hey, what’s the alternative? Back to that mat? I love this part: “When Jesus saw their faith...” Jesus always sees our faith and our efforts. They say a lot about us and what we consider important. If we see our healing as important, and are willing to work with Jesus to get there, He sustains and guides us. He may choose to use a counselor to be His voice. Or a pastor. Or a close friend. Or a doctor. God may use a combination of many people and many things to help us be whole. He rewards our seeking. If we earnestly seek Him, He awaits with open arms. This next part is quite interesting. Jesus tells the man that his sins are forgiven. Wait a minute, Lord! He came to you with a broken body. Why are You focusing on his sins? In reality, we are all spiritually broken. Our lives may be shattered, but deep within all of us, we need reconciliation with God. The man on the mat may have secretly blamed God, or his parents, or himself. He may not have forgiven God, his parents or himself, and his lack of forgiveness may have driven him further from God. He may harbor angry thoughts and a sense that God doesn’t care. His soul needs Jesus’ touch way before his physical healing. Remember Jonah? He was delivered from death, but his attitude towards God needed healing, for it drove him away from God. He may have been safe physically, but his attitude was putting him on a crash course with isolation and hell. It’s the same with the man on the mat. Jesus can heal him physically, but he still would have walked away with sin paralyzing his heart. Trust Jesus to diagnose your true area for healing. Trust His timing. Trust His ways as He seeks to achieve healing in your life. The spiritual healing may come way before any other kind of healing. Embrace that, and accept His priorities. People are murmuring at what Jesus said to the man. Not everyone will celebrate this man’s encounter with Jesus. Jesus sees their jealous anger. Jesus sees the Pharisees grumbling about the time He is taking with this man. He sees their self-righteousness as well. He knows that God alone can forgive sins. Jesus doesn’t need a Sunday school lesson from them. But they are furious that He is presuming to do God’s work. What if, for one moment, they really think about it and say, “The Promised One, our Messiah, is truly here. Let us embrace Him!” What a difference! They would have been able to enjoy the work of Jesus. But just like the jealous older brother, who sniped at the father and his prodigal brother, the Pharisees are losing out on the blessings freely flowing from God. Sadly, they demean the healing taking place in front of them. Many church folks will demean your quest for healing. Don’t listen to them. Feel sorry for them, for they are missing out on watching God’s blessings. They will have lots of advice, based on their limited knowledge and possible jealousy. Seek out a Godly counselor or pastor. Seek wise counsel from a few select people. Not everyone needs to know about your quest. You can always request prayer, however, without sharing details. The man, with his soul forgiven and his body healed (the best order!) picks up his mat and heads for home, praising God! He carries his own mat. God will not do for you what you are perfectly capable of doing yourself. You are a partner with Him, and where you can do something towards your wellness, He will expect you to do it. Praise Him as you do your share, knowing that He is right behind you. The people then praise God for what they witnessed that day. The man, no longer on his mat, is a walking testimony to the power of God. You, as you walk this journey towards wellness, will be visible testimony to God’s faithfulness. You may stumble and fall, but keep walking. Keep praising Him as you head for home. You are not alone: You have the Holy Spirit as your Guide, Advocate and loving Companion. If He sends, He defends. Stand on that.

Where To Now?

In studying Jonah, you probably noticed that we did not get a nice, tidy “Hollywood ending.” Jonah didn’t pull it together at the last minute. He didn’t become the strong man of God and strode mightily back into Nineveh. We don’t get to catch a glimpse of him as the Mighty Prophet of God admonishing the people about God’s righteousness. No, we see God having the last word, and we will never know Jonah’s reaction.

Kind of like real life, huh?

We don’t always get a Hollywood ending ourselves. We slip back. We have to relearn again and again about the grace of God. We pray and sometimes we receive answers. Sometimes we receive what we perceive as inadequate answers.

It may take years for His fruit to be evident in our lives.

Sometimes we drown in self-pity. We get bored with ourselves, and we go out and create some new chaos in our lives, to add to the chaos that we were running from in the first place.

We try to repent, only to fall prey to the sin again. And again.

Let Jonah inspire you. He was truly a work in progress. God certainly wasn’t finished with him by the end of the story. He is certainly not done with you or me either.

What is directing our lives? Is it our fear or our faith? Sometimes we have to consciously choose faith. If we just left our choice up to how we feel, fear will probably win out.

Sometimes our fear is a really a deep belief that at some point evil will come and overtake us, and we can’t escape. We will not be hucked up on shore somewhere, praising God and picking seaweed out of our hair. We will slowly be digested in that dark place, disappearing molecule by molecule until there is nothing left.

Jesus calls to us and says, “Take heart! I have overcome the world.” What did He overcome? Fear. Death. Loneliness. Isolation. Rejection. We follow Him, and He leads by example. Even when we are in the dark, He is still leading.

In Psalm 22, David writes from the darkest place imaginable: he is in tremendous pain, suffering and is beset by fear. He starts out with the most anguished cry imaginable: “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” When you are in the depths of despair, consider praying this psalm. Jesus did. When He was hanging on the cross, He prayed the first lines from this psalm. He drew comfort from the words, because He knew the whole psalm, and the hopeful message it contained. You can as well.

We left Jonah standing there in that desert, listening to God. Perhaps, later in his life, Jonah hit the road of faith and stayed on it.

Psalm 22 shows us the path that David took from fear to faith. This psalm gave comfort to Jesus. My prayer is it will comfort you as you make your way from fear to faith.

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.

David is being utterly honest here. He is crying out, day and night, but feels God is not hearing him. How often have you faced a time when you cried out to God, and feared He was not listening? Maybe that time is now. But, keep walking. David does.

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One;
you are the one Israel praises.
In you our ancestors put their trust;
they trusted and you delivered them.
To you they cried out and were saved;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.

David remembers how faithful God was in the past to His people. How, when His people praise Him, there He dwells. David reflects on the many times God heard His people cry and delivered them. David is remembering the past so he can face the present. Think back: How many times has God delivered you? He has shown Himself to be faithful in the past; His character never changes. Thus, His faithfulness then is His faithfulness now.

But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by everyone, despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they hurl insults, shaking their heads.
“He trusts in the Lord,” they say,
“let the Lord rescue him.
Let him deliver him,
since he delights in him.”

You can see why this psalm so resonated with Jesus. As He hung there on the cross, people mocked Him and taunted Him that if He were truly who He claimed to be, why wasn’t God delivering Him? The same with David and us. People look at our faith and wonder why isn’t God quickly delivering us? We begin to wonder if something is wrong about us. But David addresses that next.

Yet you brought me out of the womb;
you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast.
From birth I was cast on you;
from my mother’s womb you have been my God.

Do not be far from me,
for trouble is near
and there is no one to help.

David proclaims that the Lord has been with him from the very beginning of his life. Why would God abandon him now? David feels alone with no one to help him. But, if God delivered him at birth, why wouldn’t God deliver him now from his trouble? God has been with you along. He knew you and loved you before the foundation of the world. He has not forsaken you even with trouble so near and overwhelming fear engulfing you.

Many bulls surround me;
strong bulls of Bashan encircle me.
Roaring lions that tear their prey
open their mouths wide against me.
I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint.
My heart has turned to wax;
it has melted within me.
My mouth is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth;
you lay me in the dust of death.

Dogs surround me,
a pack of villains encircles me;
they pierce my hands and my feet.
All my bones are on display;
people stare and gloat over me.
They divide my clothes among them
and cast lots for my garment.

But you, Lord, do not be far from me.
You are my strength; come quickly to help me.

Jesus faced terror as He hung on the cross: the terror of pain, suffering, rejection and scorn. The physical pain was excruciating, but the mental pain was utterly overwhelming. Sometimes it is the pain we are suffering from within that leaves us the most devastated. The body’s wounds may heal, but the pain in our heart takes our breath away. Although David did not suffer upon a cross, the pain in his soul left him shattered.

Deliver me from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dogs.
Rescue me from the mouth of the lions;
save me from the horns of the wild oxen.

I will declare your name to my people;
in the assembly I will praise you.
You who fear the Lord, praise him!
All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!
Revere him, all you descendants of Israel!
For he has not despised or scorned
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.

David shifts his attention away from pain and fear’s attacks and starts praising the Lord. He knows he can’t deliver himself; he knows only the Lord can and so even in the midst of his suffering, he praises the Lord. The shift is in perspective for David and for us. If we focus solely on our suffering, it crowds out everything from view. If we focus on the Lord and how mighty He is, now our suffering is being compared to His greatness. Our suffering begins to lose its greatness. Our horizon expands in hope as we praise the Lord. David knows that God is not scorning him but listening to his cry. He is drawing hope and comfort from that. Jesus hears your every cry and holds your every tear.

From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly;
before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows.
The poor will eat and be satisfied;
those who seek the Lord will praise him—
may your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
for dominion belongs to the Lord
and he rules over the nations.

Wow! David’s praise has widened his viewpoint even more. He now celebrates how the Lord is Lord over all. God is good to each person and to each nation that calls upon His name in faith. Those who have suffered will be filled with His Bread and be satisfied. Who is that Bread? The Son of God, Jesus Christ. Upon accepting Him in our heart, we have forgiveness and hope. He has delivered us from sin by His death on the cross, and now He wants to deliver us from the emptiness and hopelessness that is in the world.

All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!

Even death cannot separate us from the love of God. The cross where Jesus paid our debt allows us to boldly go in to God’s presence to find help in our crisis. God’s faithfulness to us will be celebrated by those who come after us. Our lives, our suffering, our victory becomes part of a larger story: His Story. Even death will not silence the praises of those who live in Him. The empty tomb shouts victory for us as we walk in faith. If your pain is the darkness of Friday, remember, the light of Sunday morning is coming. Trust Him to carry you through.

David starts in anguish and pain. He moves into a place where he basks in the knowledge of God’s love and goodness. He stands on the promise that God “has done it!”

We need to stand on that promise as well. We stand on the Rock: Jesus Christ Himself, Who dwells in our hearts. The journey from fear to faith is paved with heart-felt and honest prayer, time in His Word and walking every day, holding His nail-scarred hand and trusting every step is in His keeping.    

Another Second Chance: Jonah 4:5-11

Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”

But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

But the Lord said, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?” (Jonah 4:5-11)

Now Jonah heads east. If he really believed his words about God’s character, he would have stayed put. Sometimes we say all the right things, and yet when our heart is alienated, we act on our feelings, not what we know to be true. Jonah is removing himself from God’s presence.

He questioned God.

He defied God.

He glorified God. Now?

He avoids God. What happened, Jonah?

He goes outside the city, and makes a shelter and “waited to see what would happen to the city.” (4:5) What is he expecting? How has God’s revelation about sparing the city changed? Jonah is now without direction, and so he sits and waits. God told him that He was going to be merciful, and yet Jonah is acting as if God is going to destroy the city anyway.

Why do we think time will change God’s words to us? If He has spoken, we need to listen and obey, and not assume God is some kind of wishy-washy Father who will change His mind at some point.

God’s unchanging character is a relief when we are looking for a steadfast love and refuge; but when we are sinning, we hope that God will relent, and not take His words so seriously. But, remember, “Jesus is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.” (Heb. 13:8)

Jonah’s feelings about Nineveh may have a much deeper root in his heart than his knowledge of God’s love. Our fears can sometimes trump the newer truths God is planting in our hearts. Jonah’s prayer inside the whale was sincere (no one can manufacture such heart-felt praise) but now that he’s out, he has fallen back into anger and fear because of God’s acceptance of Israel’s enemy. If Nineveh gets nailed, Jonah need not explore God’s mercy and grace any further.

In Revelation 2:2-5, the church in Ephesus hears this exhortation:

I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.
Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.

This could be a description of our Jonah. He detests wickedness in Nineveh, but he has forgotten his first love: the very Lord he was called to serve. He persevered and emerged from the whale, but he has forgotten his first Love. He is a man called of God, a noble thing to be sure, but he has forgotten his first Love.

Yet, even so, the Lord reaches out again to His error-prone prophet. The shelter Jonah builds is inadequate against the hot sun, so the Lord provides a vine to give Jonah shade.

Whenever we seek to build ourselves a shelter, it is always inadequate. We think we are fine until the hot sun of loneliness, fear, anger or isolation starts beating down on our heads. In fact, the reason for the vine was to “give shade for his head to ease his discomfort.” (4:6)

Jonah is happy about the vine, of course, but where is the song of thanksgiving? Where is the hearty “Thank You, Lord!” for it? He’s just sitting there. He’s alone, but a lot cooler now that the vine has sprung up. Perhaps life isn’t so bad, is it?

Is it?

But God is never content to leave us just as we are. He loves us way too much to leave us sitting out there by ourselves, thinking we’ve got it handled. Did it even occur to Jonah that God sends the vine for his comfort? Or, because his heart is cold, does he just look at it? Is he content not to question its appearance?

Then the Lord sends a worm. It nibbles away at the vine until the vine withers. Even if we are afraid and have good reason to be upset, we are still admonished that in our “anger do not sin.” We are not to “let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” (Eph. 4:26-7)

The sun went down on Jonah’s anger. The Lord was waiting for some kind of thankful response to the vine, showing a softening of Jonah’s heart.

The next day, the wind blows blisteringly hot. This wind is sent not to cool Jonah down after the vine withers, but to get Jonah’s attention. Does Jonah seek the Lord? No. He just wants to die.

How sad. Our life, the most precious gift of all, has no meaning when it is not tethered to God. We lose our purpose and our direction. Sitting out in that desert, Jonah is free to do as he will, but he has no meaning or purpose. The hot wind distresses him not just physically. He’s withering on the inside as well, to the point of wanting to die. He encountered death in the belly of the whale, and when he emerged victorious, how sweet life was!

But now, in the heat of the sun, he wants to die. He displaces his anger onto the vine: 

But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"
"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die.” (4:9)

It’s the vine’s fault! How often, in our fear, we seek to blame others for our anger? We resent what has been done to us. The fear that results causes us to stop trying. We crawl under a withered vine, angry and alone. We sit under the sun of resentment for what might have been.

Our fear changes us into someone ugly. We are ugly to others and to ourselves. Jonah is having an ugly moment, blaming the vine and probably if the truth were told, blaming God.

Is he thinking, God failed to punish Israel’s enemy. Israel’s safety is compromised and if anything happens, it will be God’s fault, not mine!

See how blinded Jonah is? He is once again focused on himself, even though we know (just as God does!) that he is quite capable of being obedient. God sees our potential. He still sees Jonah’s, as he sits way out there in the desert.

God knows Jonah’s immediate need, which is shade from a hot sun. God also knows Jonah’s deeper need, which is replacing his fear with an even stronger faith centered on who God is, and not just on what He does. God then lovingly but firmly corrects His prophet:

The vine suited Jonah, for it met his needs, caused no fear and made him the center of his world. He didn’t have to do anything. He just stayed put.

But God wants so much more for us than just staying put. Jonah would have stayed out in the desert for a long time with that cooling vine. We would stay out in the desert, too, for a long time with our fear and anger at how unfair life is. It’s a kind of weird comfort to stay put, seeking no change. Moving out of the desert is hard work. But, if God sends, He defends.

Life is unfair. But there are worms everywhere, nibbling away at our shelters. God is trying to get our attention, showing us that a vine springing up overnight is just a temporary fix. We like to seek out temporary fixes and assume that they will last. They meet our innermost needs and get us though. So, these fixes are just fine. Right?

Wrong.

God sent a worm to remind Jonah of a fundamental truth. God is deeply concerned about wicked people, irresponsible people, good people, so-so people, righteous people, lonely people and angry people.

In other words, God is reaching out to you, to me, to everyone. He so loved the world that He sent His Son. He doesn’t want anyone to perish, although many will choose not to take hold of His nail-scarred hand. He gives us, without reservation, eternal life. It’s an eternal life with Him, without fear, anger, scorching winds in desert, or darkness in the bellies of whales. He offers an eternal life with Him in a place where there are no tears. It’s ours for the asking.

But He also offers an abundant life to us here.

Moses, speaking on God’s behalf, said to the people, after leading them out of Egypt and giving them the Law to live by:

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Deut. 30:19-20)

Jesus said: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." (John 10:10)

Jonah receives a second chance. Again and again. How does our Jonah respond? The narrative ends with God’s questions to Jonah.

We really don’t know how he responds.

How many more whales, worms and winds have to barge into Jonah’s world until he gets it?

What does he need to get?

What do we need to get?

It is this one truth: God’s love is sufficient for us to overcome our own private Nineveh. Sometimes we pray the same prayer of a father who brought an extremely ill son to Jesus, who wanted to believe that Jesus could heal his son, but he was fearful. Jesus tells the man that “‘Everything is possible for him who believes,’ and then the man says, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:23-4)

Jesus also reassures us, as He did His disciples as He was facing His death: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

We follow Jesus. He overcame betrayal, pain and death. He weeps right alongside us when we face our Nineveh. He encourages us each day to trust Him. How will you respond? Your Nineveh may never change, but God calls you out from your rickety, self-made shelter into His care. Paul calmly asserts:

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. (2 Cor. 12:9)

The power of Christ in you will affect the change God desires for you. He doesn’t call you to change on your own strength, in your own power. He calls you, fills you, empowers you and sustains you with His Holy Spirit. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to His disciples, not long before His crucifixion:

[T]he Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also… (John 14:17-19)

You are never alone. His Spirit in you sees to that.