Godgrown

Updates from December, 2010 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

• 

  Mark 1:08 pm on December 3, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  Be Prepared to Be Unprepared 

  In Isaiah 16 the Moabites, fresh from their whipping from the Assyrian Empire in the north, are seen begging Judah to take in their refugee women and children.  They are calling out for asylum, hoping that their long-time rivals will have mercy and let them in as casualties of war.  Judah is already girding up for their own attack from Assyria, and some of the women of Moab begins to sing a song of future deliverance for both countries as they continue to plead with Judah to let them in:

  4b When oppression and destruction have ended

  and enemy raiders have disappeared,

  5 then God will establish one of David’s descendants as king.

  He will rule with mercy and truth.

  He will always do what is just

  and be eager to do what is right.

  The promise from God to the nation of Israel (and Judah) was that they would be blessed by God, and that they would be a blessing to the nations.  I’m sure that few would have guessed that they would have that chance to be a blessing in the midst of their own impending doom.  But as the Judeans offered hospitality to desperate Moabite refugee women, they were fulfilling their destiny to be a blessing to the nations…even as they stared down the barrel of Assyria’s nuke aimed right at them!

  It isn’t easy to be hospitable when you are frantically trying to keep your own house from falling apart.  But then again, when is it ever a good time for a crisis to land in your lap?

  The question isn’t “How ready are you for the stranger to show up at your doorstep?” But: “What will you do with the plates you are busy spinning when that stranger arrives?”

  How ready was Naomi ready to take in Ruth, two widows tied together by pain and loss, but nevertheless gave Ruth a second chance at life and became the grandmother of Israel’s King David!  How convenient was it for a teenage, unwed Mary to receive the Holy Spirit’s gift of a baby that would one day adopt the whole world into God’s family – only to be threatened with stoning and divorce by her village?

  Hospitality is never convenient – but for those with hands open to both give and receive, it can be the door through which God changes the world.

  
   

  Reply Cancel reply

  Required fields are marked *

  Name *

  Email *

  Website

  

• 

  Mark 8:29 am on December 2, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  This Will Hurt Me More Than It Hurts You! 

  One of the big questions folks have about Yahweh God and the Old Testament is his seeming insistence in killing and torturing the people he created.  The words of the Old Testament, if taken to be the literal spoken words of God, make him out to be a pretty violent, blood-thirsty deity.

  1. Some say that God is immature and erratic, kicking over anthills, etc.
  2. Others say this violence we read about comes from his sense of ultimate justice - that he could not be a just God if justice for the oppressed was not a central part of who God is.
  3. Still others say that just because it is in the Bible doesn’t mean that God had anything to do with it.

  This is seen again in Isaiah 15, where he describes the fall of Moab, a sort of “evil-twin nation” to Israel.  (If you know the story of  the two rival brothers, Jacob and Esau, Jacob is renamed Israel, and Esau becomes Moab).

  The Moabites were infamous for their lascivious and also murderous lifestyles.  They terrorized the Israelites and other nearby nations, picking off the edges of town, pillaging and kidnapping.  They had their own version of what some interpret today as “Jihad” - their word was Harem, meaning “Holy War.”  This included wiping out EVERYTHING – people, animals, even vegetation. It was all to be burned.

  Only people in cultures of wealth and privilege like ours could say that God is immature or evil for wanting to enact punishment on a country that has terrorized and punished so many for so long.

  Think about it from the perspective of the oppressed. God’s ultimate sense of justice calls him to stop oppression sooner or later – and whether he directly caused the fall of Moab, or they brought it on themselves through continual wickedness, the point is that God and his justice was the ultimate victor – that he delivers the oppressed out of the hand of the oppressor.

  And what’s more: God sheds tears for Moab as he punishes them – Saying, in effect: “This hurts me like it hurts you!”

  5 My heart weeps for Moab.
  Its people flee to Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah.
  Weeping, they climb the road to Luhith.
  Their cries of distress can be heard all along the road to Horonaim.

  What kind of God has that kind of heart?  A heart to fight for the oppressed, and yet weep for the oppressor?  A God I’d like to get to know…

  

  Mark, and sean are discussing. Toggle Comments

   
  • 

    sean 2:13 pm on December 2, 2010 Permalink

    Good point brother. As I say Amen to this, this came to mind concerning God’s faithfulness to Justice, and at the same time His Mercy upon concerning the fulfillment of final things and concerning his judgement upon the world now even, “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is longsuffering to us-ward not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” 2 Peter 3:9 I’d like to get to know that God more as well…But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

  • 

    Mark 4:09 pm on December 2, 2010 Permalink

    Very encouraging Sean! We typically judge God based on our perspective, which usually makes us confused and cynical about why he does this, or doesn’t do that. But through grace, God judges us from HIS perspective – through Jesus Christ!

• 

  Mark 8:23 am on November 18, 2010 Permalink | Reply  

  We are Not at Peace with Ourselves 

  I enjoyed going through the book of Hebrews – and together with my MICRO community, I am planning to prayerfully read through the prophet Isaiah as part of our MICRO Rhythms.  I believe Isaiah will be a fantastic book to read through together this Advent Season.  Will you join me in welcoming the Suffering Servant, our Messiah?

  Intro to Isaiah

  Author, Place and Date of the Text:

  The text itself says that it was written during the time of kings that would have situated the writing somewhere in the mid Eighth Century BCE. Isaiah, son of Amoz is the assumed author – those many scholars think that 3 different writers wrote this text. The first author may have actually come from Isaiah, while living in pre-exilic Judah, 2nd Isaiah may have been written while in Exile in Bablyon.  Then chapters 56-66 are sometimes connected with 3rd Isaiah, someone who wrote prophecy down while living in Jerusalem, after the Babylonian exile.  The issue for me comes down to whether or not 1) it matters theologically that God used 1 or 3 authors to write this text (I do believe it would matter rhetorically).  And 2) If God speaks to a person about specific future events.

  Text:

  I love Isaiah for its unique and rich language. Its powerful imagery and meaningful message about true devotion to God through loving our neighbor.  It is poetry – flowing chiastic structures to fill the Jewish mind with delight and deep meaning.  But it is also a book filled with real threats and dire consequences.  The civilizations of mankind hang in the balance during this critical point in human history – and God seems to intervene, not through Kings, but through Isaiah – a voice crying out in the wilderness!  – Pleading with people to turn away from destruction and seek God’s life.

  Isaiah 1

  The first chapter of Isaiah in many ways sets up the rest of the book.  It moves from national warnings of destruction because of disobedience and false worship.  God speaks through Isaiah powerfully in this chapter – and turns in v26 to begin speaking of using his punishment of Israel to purify her, and restore her to global beauty – a people that all peoples can look up to.  It feels hopeful, and encouraging, even if the “punishment” is spoken of as if it’s a foregone conclusion.

  It would seem as if the major offenses from Israel to God is their continual practice of the occult (sacred oaks, v29) and the rich making up for their social injustices by giving lavish gifts to God in worship, hoping God would not notice. In the meantime, the orphan and the widow remain unprotected – and the priests and judges seem to go after bribes rather than mediate for all people.  In short – God looks at how the command to “love your neighbor as yourself” is intricately linked with “Love the LORD your God.”  I would guess that this has huge implications for our societal systems in place today.

  Thomas Merton once said, “We are not at peace with others because we are not at peace with ourselves, and we are not at peace with ourselves because we are not at peace with God.”

  There is a strong link between loving neighbor and loving yourself and loving God.