AN INCURABLE ILLNESS

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“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.”

“Tell it not in Gath; weep not at all. In Beth Ophrah, roll in the dust. Pass by naked and in shame, you who live in Shaphir. Those who live in Zaanan will not come out. Beth Ezel is in mourning; it no longer protects you. Those who live in Maroth writhe in pain, waiting for relief, because disaster has come from the Lord, even to the gate of Jerusalem. You who live in Lachish, harness fast horses to the chariot. You are where the sin of Daughter Zion began, for the transgressions of Israel were found in you. Therefore you will give parting gifts to Moresheth Gath. The town of Akzib will prove deceptive to the kings of Israel. I will bring a conqueror against you who live in Mareshah. The nobles of Israel will flee to Adullam. Shave your head in mourning for the children in whom you delight; make yourself as bald as the vulture, for they will go from you into exile.”

Micah 1:8-16

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever watched a movie that is about the breakout of an epidemic, an illness that begins at a certain source and then is spread from person to person with deadly results?

It is a very scary and realistic scenario, made even more terrifying by the fact that usually there is no immediate cure for the illness once it starts.

In other words, it is a fast moving illness, infecting more and more people every day, without any way to stop it.

Why open with this scene?

Because it is central to what the word of God is relaying through His prophet Micah as He describes the malady that has contaminated the Israelites in Samaria and Jerusalem, a plague He labels as “incurable”. Look again at these closing verses from chapter 1:

“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.”

“Tell it not in Gath; weep not at all. In Beth Ophrah, roll in the dust. Pass by naked and in shame, you who live in Shaphir. Those who live in Zaanan will not come out. Beth Ezel is in mourning; it no longer protects you. Those who live in Maroth writhe in pain, waiting for relief, because disaster has come from the Lord, even to the gate of Jerusalem. You who live in Lachish, harness fast horses to the chariot. You are where the sin of Daughter Zion began, for the transgressions of Israel were found in you. Therefore you will give parting gifts to Moresheth Gath. The town of Akzib will prove deceptive to the kings of Israel. I will bring a conqueror against you who live in Mareshah. The nobles of Israel will flee to Adullam. Shave your head in mourning for the children in whom you delight; make yourself as bald as the vulture, for they will go from you into exile.”  Micah 1:8-16

First off, we need to get to the center of what the Lord is talking about here. He isn’t speaking about a real plague, similar to the ones sent in judgment before the days of Micah. Rather, He is using the plague analogy to represent how sin had infected His people and spread to other parts of His beloved nation of Israel, the sin of course being the worshiping of false gods and idols.

Note that God identifies the source of the illness (sin) as Samaria and then laments how the transgressions were transmitted to the south to infect the people of Judah to include the divine, holy city of Jerusalem. None of the Judean towns avoided the disease of iniquity and many of them are mentioned in this passage (Gath, Beth Ophrah, Shaphir, etc.). They would all be impacted by the wicked disease of sin, all would be left to mourn the things they had done, and all would face judgment for their actions, the north attacked and defeated by the Assyrians while the south would be destroyed by the Babylonians. In both cases, the Israelites who were fortunate enough to survive the onslaught would be hauled off into exile. Only the Judeans would find themselves allowed to return to rebuild their nation, their cities and towns, their homes, and their relationships with God.

Yes, God was sending punishment on His people for their sins but this was not the cure. That would come some 700 years later when God sent His only Son Jesus to earth to be a living sacrifice, the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world, the final atonement for the sins of mankind.

You see, the disease that plagued the Old Testament Israelites of Micah’s time is the same disease that plagues us today. We are all afflicted and the only cure for that affliction is Jesus and His blood that washes us white as snow. Through Him, we are justified when we believe in Him as Savior. Or put another way, when we have received Jesus as Savior, we are pardoned from sin because Jesus has already paid the penalty we deserved. He is the remedy for sin; nothing else can do it but Him.

This is why Jesus made it clear that He and He alone is the Way and the Truth and the Life, and no one can come to God the Father except through Him.

Yes, we’re all very sick, all of us. We have no hope to escape perishing if we rely on ourselves or any other person of the world for that matter. It’s a hopeless situation unless we find someone who can save us.

God did not wish that we die like that, with no hope for a better life, an eternal life free from the afflictions we face in this one. He loved us and did not wish for us to have no chance of survival and so He offered up His Son to die in the place we should have. All we have to do is place our trust in Him as Our Savior.

It is only amazing grace and mercy that would lead God to do this, to offer us an opportunity to be cured of our incurable illness so we can live with Him and Jesus now and forever.

Have you received the cure God has offered through Jesus in your life?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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DON'T MAKE ME COME DOWN THERE!

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Look! The Lord is coming from His dwelling place; He comes down and treads on the heights of the earth. The mountains melt beneath Him and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope. All this is because of Jacob’s transgression, because of the sins of the people of Israel.”

“What is Jacob’s transgression? Is it not Samaria? What is Judah’s high place? Is it not Jerusalem?”

“Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for planting vineyards. I will pour her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations. All her idols will be broken to pieces; all her temple gifts will be burned with fire; I will destroy all her images. Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes, as the wages of prostitutes they will again be used.”

Micah 1:3-7

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Think about all the sin and wickedness you see going on in your communities, your state, your nation, and/or the world around you. It’s enough to trouble anyone unless you choose to ignore it all.

Want another reason to be troubled about it all?

The Lord is watching everything going on and He is not about to ignore it all. In fact, I can almost hear Him rendering the following warning:

“Don’t make Me come down there!”

Just imagine what that would be like, if the omnipotent Lord God Almighty came to earth to bring judgment on sinners. It wouldn’t be a pretty sight, right? And yet, we find people just committing evil like there are no consequences for their transgressions, almost daring God to do something about it.

As we look at today’s scripture passage and our second look at the Book of Micah, we find that we have a lot in common with the Old Testament Israelites of Micah’s day. For as we read these verses, we see that they had pushed God to the limit of His patience, to the place where He was ready to come down from His dwelling place in the heavens and hold them accountable for their iniquities.

“Look! The Lord is coming from His dwelling place; He comes down and treads on the heights of the earth. The mountains melt beneath Him and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope. All this is because of Jacob’s transgression, because of the sins of the people of Israel.”

“What is Jacob’s transgression? Is it not Samaria? What is Judah’s high place? Is it not Jerusalem?”

“Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for planting vineyards. I will pour her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations. All her idols will be broken to pieces; all her temple gifts will be burned with fire; I will destroy all her images. Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes, as the wages of prostitutes they will again be used.”  Micah 1:3-7

First, we find the prophet readying the Israelites for what was to come. For the full wrath of the Lord was on its way as He descended from “His dwelling place” to bring destruction against those who sinned against Him, living in willing and wicked disobedience in Samaria and Jerusalem.

What were the people doing that caused such consternation from the Lord?

It really hinged on their worship practices more than anything else.

Well before the Israelites in Micah’s day, God had commanded His people to have no other gods before Him. He was to be God and God alone to all people but especially His chosen people of Israel. God made sure everyone knew He was a jealous God and would not stand for any competition. The Israelites were not to bow down to any other gods or idols, period.

But unfortunately, the Israelites broke this commandment more than any of the others.

It started when they failed to drive out all the native peoples of Canaan as they took possession of the land God had promised them. You’ll recall God had told them to leave no one else in the land because He knew of the idolatrous worship practices of the other peoples and suspected the Israelites would be adversely influenced if they did not eliminate all who worshiped false gods and idols. But the Israelites disobeyed God, allowed some of the native groups to remain and the rest was history because things unfolded just as God had feared. His people were boldly and blatantly unfaithful to Him, committing adultery by giving their love and devotion to idols. They showed no regard or respect for God.

And so God, after sending warnings through the prophets that sent the implied message “Don’t make Me come down there!”, did indeed come to bring judgment on His people. He promised to “make Samaria a heap of rubble”, to “pour her stones into the valley”, and to “lay bare her foundations”. He guaranteed He would break all idols into pieces, burn all the temple gifts, and destroy all images. And all the money collected through the worshiping of false gods and idols would be taken from Samaria by her attackers, the Assyrians, who would use them in support of their own idol worship (what the scriptures refer to as the “wages of prostitutes”).  

It wasn’t going to be a pretty scene and it wasn’t a pretty scene when the Lord came down from His heavenly dwelling to bring the Assyrians against His people. We know how the story ends. Most if not all of the Israelites taken from the northern kingdom by Assyria, never returned again after their part of the country was left in utter ruin.

Friends, this is the outcome when the Lord comes from His dwelling place with judgment in mind. We had better pay attention and heed His certain warning if we allow ourselves to fall into sin, a warning that might sound something like this:

“Don’t make Me come down there!”

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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WITNESSED

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

“Hear, you peoples, all of you, listen, earth and all who live in it, that the Sovereign Lord may bear witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple.”

Micah 1:1-2

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Watch any courtroom drama, real or fiction, and you will typically find witnesses, people called forward to testify about knowledge they might have pertinent to the case being tried. Sometimes, the witnesses will tell about something they heard; other times they may talk about something they saw which makes them eyewitnesses as they provide an account of what they viewed.

Why all the talk about witnessing?

Because it is central to the opening verses of the Book of Micah as we start to look at a new prophet today. Look again at these verses:

The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

“Hear, you peoples, all of you, listen, earth and all who live in it, that the Sovereign Lord may bear witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple.”  Micah 1:1-2

Micah is counted among the minor prophets in the Old Testament, not because he was necessarily lesser when compared to say Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel but rather because the accounts of his work were smaller than the others as is the case with many other prophets we have covered and a few we have yet to look at. As we look at the scriptures, we do see some things revealed about him.

First, like other messengers chosen by God, Micah received the “word of the Lord”. Note that he is not the originator of the words he would speak. No true prophet is. Rather, the very fact that he was receiving a word from the Lord is what made him a prophet by definition.

Second, we know that Micah lived in Moresheth, also referred to as Moresheth-Gath. It was in the southern kingdom of Judah, just to the southwest of Jerusalem and nearly due west of Tekoa, the hometown of Amos.

Third, since Micah lived in Judah it only makes sense that he would have served as God’s servant during the reigns of kings of Judah, specifically Kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Delivering God’s prophecies at the same time as Isaiah, it’s believed Micah lived from 737 to 696 BC.

Finally, we know that Micah’s prophesy, the vision God provided, dealt with the locales of Samaria and Jerusalem.

With this backdrop, let’s look again at what Micah had to say as he introduces himself to his audience:

“Hear, you peoples, all of you, listen, earth and all who live in it, that the Sovereign Lord may bear witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple.”

Micah commands the attention of everyone who is within earshot of what he is saying. He calls them to hear his words and listen, not just the people of Israel and Judah but all those who live on the earth.

Why such an all encompassing group?

Because the Lord had something to say to them, to all of them, as He bore witness against them from His holy temple in the heavens.

Think about this for a moment and it should bring you to a place of trepidation and anxiousness.

For the God of all creation, the Maker and Master of all things, the One with unmatched omnipotent power ready to be wielded to do all things, this Lord was the Lord who was bearing witness against the people of the world.

And when God witnesses, he doesn’t miss anything. Period.

Nothing goes unnoticed.

Nothing happens outside of His view.

Nothing.

Let that sink in as you think about everything and anything you have done in life. Then consider that every sin has been witnessed by the Lord.

Every wrong action.

Every wicked word used.

Every evil thought that has come to mind.

The Lord has seen it all and is always ready to bear witness against us.

Doesn’t paint a pretty picture, does it?

This is why we need a Savior in Jesus because we have no hope of surviving an indictment of our sins when the perfect witness who has seen everything we have done is prepared to testify against us. We would all be destined to receive the death penalty had Jesus not already paid that price for us. He bore the punishment we deserved so that instead of being condemned and destroyed, we can be justified and saved.

For when God testifies against any Christian, showing them the depth of their transgressions on judgment day, Jesus will step forward and announce to His Father that He has already paid the price, bearing the cost of the Christian’s iniquities.

Truly, it is a story of amazing grace, a story of salvation and deliverance from the wrongs witnessed by the God who sees everything, the God who we will see continuing to speak through Micah in tomorrow’s devotions and others to follow.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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MISUNDERSTANDING MERCY

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.
In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

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 4:1-11

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you had an experience or ever heard a story concerning someone who did something terrible and then wished the worse for them?

In our humanity, I’m afraid that we sometimes think we’re fit to determine who deserves mercy and who doesn’t.

In other words, most everyone misunderstands the true essence, nature, and origin of mercy at some time or another.

As we come to the end of the Book of Jonah, we find God’s messenger in the midst of such a struggle, wrestling with his feelings about God’s decision to spare the Ninevites despite their history of wicked and evil ways. Our scriptures today open a window into Jonah’s raw emotions and God’s response to them. Look again at these words:

But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

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 4:1-11

Jonah is in a state of confusion. We know this because of the way he is processing all that has happened since that fateful day when he received the Lord’s tasking and decided to flee from it. Jonah’s words try to convince the Lord that the very reason he chose to go to Tarshish was because he didn’t believe the judgment of Nineveh would really be carried out. This is because Jonah saw the Lord as being “gracious and compassionate”, “slow to anger and abounding in love”, “a God who relents from sending calamity.”

Jonah had things part right.

Indeed, God was a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in love, and willing to relent from sending calamity. He was a God of mercy and there was no disputing this fact as it was God who rescued and saved Jonah from the depths as he sank ever close to his death after being thrown overboard.

But God was also a God of judgment, a God who would punish His people for their willful, sinful disobedience. He would have carried out that judgment on Jonah had he not turned from his sinful ways and surely the same fate would have come on the Ninevites if they had not repented.

This is what Jonah was missing, the concept he was not getting. He was happy to receive God’s mercy for himself but angry that the same mercy was being extended to the people of Nineveh. He didn’t realize that it wasn’t his place to decide who did and didn’t deserve mercy.

As I said earlier, maybe we’re more like Jonah when it comes to this life attitude of misunderstanding mercy than we want to admit.  

Of interest, we find the Lord trying to use a real life experience to get his point through to Jonah, raising up a plant to give him shade and then taking the plan away just as quickly as it had sprung up. Note that Jonah was happy when he had the shade of the plant, a merciful shade that took away the scorching heat of the sun. But as soon as the plant died, he returned to his anger as the rays of the sun returned to beat down on him.

As long as things were the way Jonah wanted them, he was happy. But when things weren’t, he raged against life in general, even going as far to believe it would be better to die than live. He could not deal with the fact that people outside of Israel could be spared, although the God of Israel was equally the God of all people for God was indeed the Maker and Master of all.

This is what gave God every right to extend mercy or remove it and Jonah (or person for that matter) no right to dispute it

God had been in the business of taking the lost and leading them to His righteousness when they found Him. It had been true for the ancestors of Jonah and it would be true for the Ninevites as well who had been living in sin, unable to tell their right hand from left. It was what defined them and yet when they awakened to the wrongs of their ways, repented, and acknowledged the God who brought them to life as being the same God who could also remove them from it, they found themselves spared, blessed by God’s grace and compassion.

Friends, we have no more right than Jonah to pick and choose who deserves mercy and who doesn’t. For the Lord is never going to allow His actions to be predicated on what we think but rather what on He deems appropriate to do. This goes for all things but in light of this devotion, it’s particularly applicable to the matter of mercy, a mercy we will never misunderstand when we realize that it is always given perfectly when administered by a perfect God, a God who is the only One worthy enough to judge justly.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
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