Tag: Prophet

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When God goes silent.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

““The time is surely coming,” says the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine on the land— not a famine of bread or water but of hearing the words of the Lord. People will stagger from sea to sea and wander from border to border searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it. Beautiful girls and strong young men will grow faint in that day, thirsting for the Lord’s word.” Amos‬ ‭8‬:‭11‬-‭13‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Amos isn’t famous, rich or educated, but he just had enough of Israel’s abundant flaunting of wealth and hubristic treatment of the poor. Being a shepherd and a fig tree farmer didn’t stop him from hearing from God, putting together his sermons and messages about what he heard and delivering it in Bethel, where there was a large temple.

Israel, under Jeroboam 2, had become extremely powerful and wealthy. The king had won a lot of battles and secured Israel’s borders so that everyone prospered. Everyone, except the poor. The rich got richer and the poor not only got poorer, they became slaves to the wealthy families. And because they were poor, there was no representation or help when cheated in transactions. All the while, the Jewish well to do continued to go to temple, pay their taxes, and party hard in the religious celebrations. And, worst of all the people did all of this while experiencing and expanding their worship of idols. In the people’s eyes, the nation was flourishing and the wealthy were happy to add Jehovah to a list of other gods as a part of their cultural, religious experiences.

This average Amos guy comes into town with big warnings and harsh words for the privileged and those who just wanted to live the good life without giving a second thought to God or his rules. Earlier in chapter 8, God shows Amos a basket of ripe fruit, figs most likely. God says that the ripe fruit represents the people being ripe for judgment. In one verse God says “You can’t wait for the Sabbath day to be over and the religious festivals to end so you can get back to cheating the helpless. You measure out grain with dishonest measures and cheat the buyer with dishonest scales.” (8:5‬). Just normal folks, playing a dangerous game of living high while behaving horribly to their fellow (poor) Israelites.

In these verses, God tells Amos, the next big famine that God will send on them will be worse than the ones before. What is worse than a food famine or a disastrous drought? God will quit speaking. There will not be any words, no communication, no messages from heaven – God goes silent. If we lined up all the Old Testament prophets, the spokespersons for God, they were all speaking, warning, pronouncing both judgment and hope. Most of them were murdered to subdue their silence. This time, God would go silent for 400 years! From Malachi to Matthew, God did not speak.

What happened in that time period? The world experienced a mini apocalypse, just a foretaste of what men of war and humanity would be like without God intervening or speaking. Just a note, in the future God will not be silent. You would think that the non-God crowd, the atheists or pantheists would celebrate. But the world got very dark, brutal and wicked. Honest historians admit, this period of time led to the worse treatment of humans and the poor ever! People who think Judaism is restrictive, or that Christianity is a straitjacket of thought, morality, and science – even promoting sexism, patriarchal oppression and hate, does not know history. This period of time, the 400 years of silence was a free for all of power, wealth, abuse and domination over the weak, the poor.

It was the worse time in history to be a woman or a child! Read Tom Holland’s book, Dominion. Holland, an atheist himself, concludes that Christ and Christianity was the turning point and salvation of human morality and treatment of the poor, the weak – especially for women, children and the family structure. Modern culture seems to beg for the removal of constraints and restrictions of Christianity, of any sense of God, but we do so to our own peril, our own destruction.

Prayer

Dad,
I feel the conviction and passion of Amos’ words even today. Our “king” and country is wealthy. And, I see a lot of folks pursue whatever god promises the biggest financial bonus or fame. I also do my Sunday duties and too often continue to treat the outliers and outcasts with disdain. Father God, you’d prefer mercy over sacrifice wouldn’t you? I also know that I tend to focus on things that perpetuate instead of prevent further harm or injustices. I need the boldness of Amos’ passion to work first in me. I don’t need to look far from my own frailties. Forgive me. Help me Holy Spirit; to yield and move towards you, not away from you. In you, Oh Lord, will I find right living, peace and joy! Amen.

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Hope’s anticipation.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“How miserable I am! I feel like the fruit picker after the harvest who can find nothing to eat. Not a cluster of grapes or a single early fig can be found to satisfy my hunger. The godly people have all disappeared; not one honest person is left on the earth. They are all murderers, setting traps even for their own brothers.” ‭‭Micah‬ ‭7‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Certainly anyone who has read through the books of the prophets (spokespersons) in the Old Testament get a huge dose of reality.

Just a thought; there seems to be a constant comparison in modern days with the idea that one is either an extrovert or an introvert. But, there is another comparison not talked about yet is very apparent in our conversations. Am I an optimist or a pessimist? Do I live in a world that is awful getting worse, or a world that is good getting better.

The ancient prophetic series of authors are both – but the darkness, wickedness and harsh outlook always goes first.

This section title in most Bibles is labeled to reflect that truth. This chapter is titled, “Misery Turned to Hope.” I personally like a true assessment of the situation before even thinking about how God will show up and make everything right. Micah lets us know exactly how he feels! His illustration, his comparison, is like a field worker after the field has been picked over! There are no leftovers, not even the godly expectation of something being left on the edges for the poor.

Micah even tells us about a specific fruit that Jesus himself mentioned in a story about the cursing of a certain fig tree. Micah reveals the key to the fig tree curse. He mentions the “first ripe” or “early fig.” There is a fig that will produce a small “pre-fig” bud that is eatable but not that tasty. In Micah’s illustration it means that there is absolutely nothing left on the field, not even these pre-fig buds that the poor were sadly satisfied to pick and eat so they didn’t starve! In Jesus’ story, the fig tree was cursed because it was a complete fake, never able to produce ANYTHING useful, not even these pre-buds.

Micah’s illustration tells us that, in his opinion, his outlook – there was nothing left that looked like the people belonging to God. They ALL disappeared! He lost sight of what God calls, “the remnant,” or the “root of Jesse.” Even though Micah can’t see them, there are just a few who were still there, who were godly. Those who acted with justice and mercy.

Isn’t it interesting that the bar of spirituality came down to the level of how the Israelites treated one another and their neighbors? When looking for any signs of hope, the small threads of a remnant, God looked at their behavior towards each other and not to their behaviors towards Himself. Some were still bringing sacrifices, but God told them to stop because they were meaningless when even their acts of holiness betrayed them by poor behavior towards others.

If you want to see the hope at the end of Micah’s brutal assessment, then read the few verses at the end of this chapter. “Where is another God like you, who pardons the guilt of the remnant, overlooking the sins of his special people? You will not stay angry with your people forever, because you delight in showing unfailing love.” Micah‬ ‭7‬:‭18‬ ‭The only hope is that God forgives and restores – which even today, God is willing and able to do. Hope is not in anticipation that WE get better, it’s in the reality that God keeps His promise and gives us many opportunities to turn towards Him. Our hope is in our ability to really trust that God is as good as He says He is.

Prayer

Dad,
As I look over the state of our country’s spiritual health and your Church’s ability to be fruitful, making disciples, I also feel like Micah. What’s left? Where’s the harvest? Is it still coming? Will there be willing workers to bring it in? Our American fields look desolate. Yet, there is still something stirring. There is a sense of desperation and need. Not to return to former outpourings and glory days of big church attendance and some kind of political power in numbers. No, there is a growing hunger just for your presence. A desire to know that you would move on us, our cities, our brokenness. How desperate are we? I’m not sure, but I feel it coming.

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Our behavior is our I.D. badge.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭7‬:‭15‬-‭20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus actually tells us to be careful when we are identifying good people from bad – especially those who claim to be spokespersons for God (prophets). This is tricky because we are instructed to be fruit inspectors but leave the final call, the judgment of how to deal with fakes and falsities up to God.

First of all, badges and titles mean very little in terms of authenticity, authority and allowing someone to lead, guide or even correct us. This is our current crisis of leadership and authority figures today! The Pastor may wear a collar, a tie or a title, but if they are not acting like a good shepherd, BE CAREFUL – BE AWARE. A police officer, judge, doctor, teacher or governor may hold the title, but if their fruit, their behaviors don’t match the position – be on your guard.

How can the average person know how to tell the difference between a good, authoritative person and a bad one? Jesus told us. Check out the way they act, not their clothes, symbolic accoutrements, or titles. How do they treat you, and others? The object lesson helps all of us, even a child, identify who is not only safe, but helpful in our lives. Can you find or eat a yummy grape off a thorny bush or tumbleweed? Nope. A tree or bush only produces what it IS, not what it would wish to BE. If you are a spokesperson for God, or an authority figure, quit pushing your position and title around and start behaving like a person of good character. I’ve heard folks say this when trying to make others comply to their commands, “Do you know who I am?” When they have to use that line to convince someone to cower and obey, we know they’ve got a fruit/behavior identity problem.

By the way, Jesus did sparingly use his title with the guys who said they worked for and represented God. He told them straight out – “I AM,” using the culturally unspoken, unwritten, name of God – Yahweh. This obviously made the religious leader’s blood boil! But with most people, average outliers and sideliners, he didn’t speak his title, he spoke love, compassion, forgiveness, mercy and healing! Those sound like behavioral actions to me.

How about letting our behaviors be our I.D. badge? In conversations with people I interact with, I rarely introduce myself as a Pastor. Am I ashamed to do so? Not at all. I just want to lead with behavior, not my badge. After a few moments of talking to someone, sometimes I get the common, “so what do you do?” question. Sometimes I’ll tell people, “I am a hopebroker.” That always initiates a whole new conversation! However, there are times I just tell them straight out, “I’m a Pastor.” I love the look on their face after that. Sometimes they will pay me the highest compliment ever, “well, you don’t act like one!” they’ll say. Meaning, I didn’t judge them, look down on them or start a typical controversial argument they might expect from a religious person. The only time I use the official title of Pastor (I say Minister) is when doctors or hospital personnel won’t let me visit someone who is in a health crisis 😇.

Prayer

Dad,
I want to wear grace like a nice outfit. I want mercy and patience to be my business card. I want your character attributes, the fruit of the Spirit to be what hangs on the title of my life-door. I need a lot of help to get my fruit to match my tree! Help me BE Jesus before I even start talking about my christian credentials.

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Future fairness and justice.

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“Soon—and it will not be very long— the forests of Lebanon will become a fertile field, and the fertile field will yield bountiful crops.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭29‬:‭17‬-24 ‭NLT‬‬

Things are not just, not fair, and absolutely not equitable here on earth. It’s not possible in a broken system, a humanly flawed system. It’s flawed because there are so many who just want what they want, when they want it. And everyone else is just a nuisance in the way.

Isaiah sees that just on the other side of this whole human experience, which has tremendous highs and devastating lows, awaits justice, wholeness and a global, godly equality that we all yearn for. The earth itself waits and aches for all things to just be made right again. Isn’t that something we ALL share? The angst and anticipation for everything to make sense? Isaiah gives a shortlist of examples of those who want but are not satisfied, but that completion is coming – “SOON,” he writes. In that day…

Goodness and justice will rise:
▪️ the deaf will hear words, read from a book, and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness.
▪️ The humble will be filled with fresh joy from the Lord.
▪️ The poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

Evilness and selfishness will subside:
▪️ The scoffer will be gone, the arrogant will disappear, and those who plot evil will be killed.
▪️ Those who convict the innocent by their false testimony will disappear.
▪️ A similar fate awaits those who use trickery to pervert justice and who tell lies to destroy the innocent.

We can all agree on these terms and future hopes! Ah, but for those who have no sense of, nor belief in eternity, they only have annihilation as the end of everything. I get it. They should try to cram it all into what is a very brief existence called life. Go for it. Reform the animalistic, degenerate, darwinian, literal hell out of humans. All you have to do is convince every single person, from every corner of the planet, every culture and conversation to snap to it and transform themselves for the better good!

It’s so easy, and humans without any shred of belief in God have been frustratingly trying to pull it off for eons. The non-believer does have a hope outside of the Creator though. It will be a short-lived hope. There will come an anti-god, a demigod, the Bible calls the anti-Christ who will come with platitudes and promises to bring world peace. He’ll be so convincing that billions with believe. Ah, but in the end, he’s just the master trickster representative, the guy behind the scenes with the the red suit and the pitch fork just enjoying his temporary rise to power.

Isaiah called it thousand of years ago. This will all come to pass and I just plan to be on God’s side of it and not shake my little self-determined fist at Him.

Prayer

Dad,
So be it. Come quickly Lord Jesus. Come and make things right and just forever and for all. Amen.

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Hebrews hall of famers!

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“How much more do I need to say? It would take too long to recount the stories of the faith of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and all the prophets. By faith these people overthrew kingdoms, ruled with justice, and received what God had promised them. They shut the mouths of lions, quenched the flames of fire, and escaped death by the edge of the sword. Their weakness was turned to strength. They became strong in battle and put whole armies to flight. Women received their loved ones back again from death. But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection.”Hebrews‬ ‭11‬:‭32‬-‭35‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Chapter 11 is filled with the famous faithful, and here the author just summarizes the more known stories that we still tell today. All of this was because of faith, their faith. Faith is extraordinarily critical in the life of Christ followers. It was then, before details of the plan was revealed, and it is now. Notice how small this list is when compared to the thousands of years it represents – it is just a few.

When Hebrews mentions “and all the prophets,” he was writing about the many unnamed major and minor prophets, spokespersons for God. And, because most of those prophets were warning Israel, begging them to turn from sin, as God was already setting the stage for their discipline, those folks were the ones mentioned towards the end. These were tortured, not just for their faith, but their words delivered to the leaders, and the people of God. No one wanted to listen to those words, so they killed them. Hebrews goes on to mention a few of those we know about. “Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. Some died by stoning, some were sawed in half, and others were killed with the sword. Some went about wearing skins of sheep and goats, destitute and oppressed and mistreated.” Isaiah was the one stuffed in a hollowed log and cut in half!

Faith, as glorious as it may seem in the results and endings of these stories, was very costly and frightening to trust and obey God. Faith always includes huge risks. There is just no other way to do it. All of it, for the folks who believed long before the plans of God became reality in the son of man, son of God, was “credited to them as righteousness.” The phrase, shows up often in the Bible; in Genesis 15:36, Psalms 106:31 and Romans 4:22-23. Faith is still required and still effective to “credit” any of us with righteousness. It wasn’t just for them “pre-messiah,” the Apostle Paul says, “for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in him, the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” The new spin on this faith is revealed as not just credit towards our salvation but also the best way to please God – 11:6. Our names may not go down in history, but in and with faith they will be recorded in God’s book of life!

Prayer

Dad,
This faith that pleases you has always seemed to come with great risk. Oddly enough, it always looked so glamorous when reading and reflecting on the stories of old. Yet, in the moments when I face faith and the decisions to trust and obey you – well it has never felt all that appealing. It felt like hard work, like swimming in mud, like groping forward in the dark. Faith does not come natural to me at all. When faith is talked about it always sounds so fun and exciting. But in reality it’s pushing against all the senses telling me not to do it. It’s odd that it’s so hard to believe. Maybe that’s just me?

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Sister wives and impolite dinner conversations.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what fickle Israel has done? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree. I thought, ‘After she has done all this, she will return to me.’ But she did not return, and her faithless sister Judah saw this. She saw that I divorced faithless Israel because of her adultery. But that treacherous sister Judah had no fear, and now she, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution.” Jeremiah‬ ‭3:6-8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

God speaks to Jeremiah and it sounds like an episode from Sister Wives. God uses massive marriage, family and sisterhood language to explain just how inappropriate and hurtful are His own people, His chosen people are behaving towards him.

This passage reminds me of a couple of other Bible stories where the writers use very real, very course language to describe Israel’s sin. One is in Ezekiel 23, the other is the book of Hosea. It is interesting and disturbing that God would use and had to use such vivid, x-rated imagery to communicate Israel’s complete rejection of His love and care for them.

This was NOT polite dinner conversations! Oftentimes, parents today will not let their children read these Bible stories until they are old enough to understand the true consequences of choices and real and long lasting effects of sin.

God says, Israel has been having open love affairs with idols – actual wooden poles and stone figurines. Now, they weren’t having physical sex, but they were certainly giving themselves away in every other way. These idols, although dead, inanimate objects someone had a reputation for being really needy. They needed cash, fresh fruits, veggies and meat. They needed constant attention and in extreme cases demanded a human sacrifice for time to time, normally one of their children.

God told Jeremiah he thought Israel would go off, sow some wild oats and then come home, come back to Himself. Well Israel didn’t return and God served them divorce papers – God was done with that side of the family. But worse, Judah, the “other sister,” copied Israel’s behavior and just gave up the monogamous relationship all together.

It was through this long history of heartbreak that God shows us who we really are when we have full free choice! We all, like dogs in heat, just run off to find pleasure or “freedom” anywhere we can. This is Us! Read the rest of this story and you’ll see just how tiring it was for God to continue to pursue a people who were constantly running away from Him – not towards Him. These cycles of selfish pursuit are stories of God’s own chosen group, not some Philistine, Canaanite or Assyrian folks. Those people were KNOWN violent, brutal, highly immoral people. Yet, they weren’t any worse than Israel and Judah! When there’s no clear difference in the way God’s people live from the non-believers of God, there’s a serious problem, right?

Prayer

Dad,
Wow. We are a piece of work! History certainly does repeat itself. All I can think of is this impolite dinner talk being the real picture of what Paul said to the churches in Rome, “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Oftentimes I think of the small sins and offenses and think, “I’m not that bad.” Then I read of the folks who regularly cheated on you and profaned your gifts of mercy, and remember “oh yeah, that’s in my heart as well.” I’m really humbled that I have to be reminded of how bad, how desperately wicked is my wandering soul, unchecked by your Holy Spirit! Forgive me. Forgive us as the Church.

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Gravity don’t lie.

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“Then he showed me another vision. I saw the Lord standing beside a wall that had been built using a plumb line. He was using a plumb line to see if it was still straight. And the Lord said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” I answered, “A plumb line.” And the Lord replied, “I will test my people with this plumb line. I will no longer ignore all their sins.” Amos‬ ‭7:7-8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Full tilt and a bubble off!

This last vision Amos saw is so tame and cool compared to the other two before this. The first a swarm of locusts, a plague devouring everything. The second a raging fire sweeping across both land and sea. Also destroying everything. This third vision is so different! A plumb line.

How genius is this back in ancient days? We use a variation of plumb lines today with modern technology. Gravity don’t lie. Put a weight on a string and hang it from the top of a wall, fence or post and it will show you if the structure is straight, even or “plumb” as they say.

It would be odd to get into an argument about being straight when using a device like this. Someone may ask, “well, how do you know it’s straight?” Answer, look at the plumb line! They may argue, “well, how do you know if the plumb line is correct?”

Ah, a doubter of gravity eh? Gravity guarantees the weight hanging from a string, perpendicular to the object, is straight. Folks can argue all they want, choosing to question what’s straight or plumb, but unless they want crooked buildings, fences or posts they should line up their project to the plumb line.

God told Amos, He is the plumb line and the people of Israel, by their behaviors don’t line up! They are living crooked lives by giving and sacrificing to wooden poles and calling them god. The entire leadership of the country has gone wacky and God had enough of it. End of the line for King Jeroboam and the crooked priests feeding him nonsense.

What an object lesson! Amos, look for yourself, the whole bunch is BENT, broken, off kilter! God says, “I can’t ignore that.” When our lives are held up against a standard of what’s straight, what’s right, what’s good, we can clearly see we’re crooked! God is the standard, God is that plumb line everywhere and in everything. So, whether we’re leaning a little or a lot to the left or a little or a lot to the right, we’re still not straight compared to God’s perfection.

Prayer

Dad,
No arguments here. I know how good and perfect you are. I also know of your great mercy and grace to us. And, I know that the only one that stands perfectly straight next to this heavenly plumb line standard is Jesus! So I try to stand as close as I can to Him so that you see his perfection, his goodness, his righteousness. I am thankful for the work through Christ on our behalf.

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Somebody stop me!

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“From the least to the greatest, their lives are ruled by greed. From prophets to priests, they are all frauds. They offer superficial treatments for my people’s mortal wound. They give assurances of peace when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their disgusting actions? Not at all—they don’t even know how to blush! Therefore, they will lie among the slaughtered. They will be brought down when I punish them,” says the Lord.” Jeremiah‬ ‭6:13-15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​Brought to you by the same guy that gave us Jeremiah 29:11. Oh, God has plans alright… but there’s this little (cough, cough) issue of deep, hidden, pervasive SIN. Just before this passage Jeremiah quite dramatically says, “So now I am filled with the Lord’s fury. Yes, I am tired of holding it in! “I will pour out my fury on children playing in the streets and on gatherings of young men, on husbands and wives and on those who are old and gray.”

The spokespersons for God had the awful job of delivering warnings, consequences and mostly bad news. Anything to get us, to shake us back into the reality of how far we’ve slid, how far we’ve drifted. And, enough is enough. For selfishness and self serving hunger from sin there is never satiation, it’s never enough. We don’t come to our senses. We don’t have an ultimate endpoint of self awareness to reign in our lust and desires.

God must stop our spiraling pursuit of MORE. Jeremiah describes it as greed, but it’s far more than just material gain, it’s power, control and massive egotistical tyrannies of self-protection.

We are currently being served (or subjugated) by these narcissistic leaders all around us today! No wonder Jeremiah can’t hold it in any more! There’s a moment when we also get a sense that one; we have just given up and expect these bad characters to lead us or two; we want these maniacs in power because they also give us what we want.

Do we really want leaders constantly telling us, leading us to DO RIGHT and LIVE RIGHT? God put a stop to all of it when He PUT his own people into slavery, under a powerful leader in the most wealthy kingdom of its day. It starts to feel like God would be saying, “if you want to behave like slaves, then I’ll just let you have your way.”

I’ve been seeing a lot of bad human qualities in me, reflected through these Old Testament stories. One is: I want what I want, when I want it and I don’t want anyone telling me different! Two is: Never point out when I’m wrong, because it is ALWAYS someone else’s fault! Geez, I’m a real piece of work here.

God stopped his people from destroying themselves and lovingly punished them to protect them. And, God is still doing so today in our lives, in our culture, even in our churches. I wouldn’t be too eager to celebrate God’s judgment on our “pagan” neighbors in entertainment, media, politics, policing, education or business. God is willing to start with his own, the church. Peter wasn’t afraid to just plainly write it out in 4:17, “For the time has come for judgment, and it must begin with God’s household.” You know what’s wild, this is GOOD news. To quote Jim Carrey in The Mask, “Somebody stop me!”

Prayer

Dad,
I see that my sin could and would carry me away, far away from you. I see that you’re love equals discipline as much as it means blessing. I see, I know the things in my heart of hearts and I am thankful that the Holy Spirit both corrects and keeps them in check. I cannot get away from my sins, but I can confess and turn and run towards you rather than run from you. Thank you for your correction and your grace.