A place to be refreshed by the LORD, JESUS.

Email Me

Friends and cohorts Kevin's -- Curt's -- James -- Back to obscurity -- Hail Storm main page

Powered by TagBoard Message Board

Name URL or Email Messages(smilies)

 
In Micah there is a lot of stuff happening with God's people and God's voice, as heard through the prophet Micah. Basically, the people have gotten carried away with themselves and done whatever they wanted. In fact, when they hear the words of Micah that speak of the horrible things they have been doing, they basically tell him to stop talking. It gets so bad that in chapter 2, Micah talks about how the people would welcome a prophet who spoke about wine and drink. Which is pretty sad considering a phophet is one who is supposed to tell the truth of the LORD. Micah points out a lot of interesting things while he is telling the people what GOD thinks. Number one, he tells the people that the corruption starts in the capitals of Judah and Samaria (Chapter 1). In other words the places that should be the most well defended, the best in terms of defending the truth, are the places where the corruption is the highest. As a result, things are really bad. Really, really bad. Micah goes on to talk about the judges, the priests, and people in general as the type of people that lie awake at night scheming to do evil. They even plan on tearing the flesh from the bones of the people. Prophets demand money or else they won't speak the LORD's words. Judges demand bribes or else there will be no rulings for people. (Chapter 1-4). So Micah say That is it folks.. GOD is about to tear down this place and it's going to get ugly. And naturally it does.
The keys here are several. First, it was the places and the people who should have been the defenders of GOD who were corrupt. Secondly, the corruption had gone so deep that it could not just be cut out. The LORD basically tears down the nation completely. Now the cool thing is that even in all of this, the LORD speaks of desiring to redeem HIS people in the future (Chapters 5 and 6). Micah also points out that even he has sin that must be dealt with by the LORD (chapter 7) but that when the LORD has dealt with it, then the LORD will deal with Micah's enemies. There is a lot of preaching in just that sentence. The LORD will deal with sin. He may tear down the walls of city, a country, or a person. HE will deal with sin on the cross or on our own. Even Micah, the prophet who follows GOD when others won't, realized that he too needed to deal with sin. Even as followers of Christ we can have sin that "easily ensnares us". but the message here is that GOD will deal with it one way or another. But even in his dealings with it, HE plans for the eventual victory of his people. more to come tomorrow.
posted by Darol at 1:41 PM

 
I was at a worship service recently and we were singing the song "Hungry." As we sang it, the LORD was impressing upon me the idea of "what are you really hungry for?" The lyrics of the song speak of being hungry for the LORD, but what does that really mean? Let's look at the idea of hunger for just a second.
When you are hungry, and you don't care what you are hungry for, then just about anything will do. A bologna sandwich will be great. Tacos are fine. In fact, if I am hungry enough then a bag of skittles from Circle K will work (as a starter of course.) If you go out to eat with friends and everyone is hungry but no body has a particular hunger then it makes the process of eating both easier and harder. It's easier because anywhere you go will be fine. But it's also harder to make a decision. The decision becomes even harder if I am hungry but I don't know what for. Still let's stay with the idea of being hungry and not caring what I eat. Tacos or bologna sandwiches will be just fine (assuming I have no disposition of hatred towards bologna or tacos.) In fact 4 bags of skittles will fill my hunger as well. It will also possess enough sugar to put me into a glucose coma. Which brings up another aspect of hunger--if you hunger for the wrong things or put the wrongs into feeding your hunger, you may get full but you won't be healthy and you could end up shortening your life.
Now getting back to your hunger, if your hunger is specific then it's a whole different story. If I am hungry for steak, then eating tacos or a bologna sandwich may fill me up but it won't meet my need and actually meeting my need might make me more upset than not eating. I mean if I want a steak badly enough and you know this and decide to take me to subway and tell me to go buy my sandwich while you wait in the car, we have a problem. I have a specific hunger and I want it filled with a specific food. Now naturally I can't eat just steak my whole life but the idea in the physical world is that when I know what it is I want, the other stuff won't do.
Let's put this in a spiritual context. If someone is hungry but they don't know for what, then a lot of things will work. Any religion or social group will fill some of the hunger--some. Just like eating 4 bags of skittles will do. But they aren't healthy and it works because people only know they are hungry. And all people are spiritually hungry. But until they find the food offered by JESUS they are only filling the hunger--not with what is good for them and not with what they really want. This is why a lot of religions work for awhile. It's also why a lot of people come to Christianity but don't stay with HIM. They have realized their hunger but not what they are truly hungry for. They think they hunger for friends, or a better way of life, or a better attitude. What they are really hungry for is a relationship with their creator where life matters and they are both loved and able to love HIM. This is where the hunger for JESUS comes in. If we are going to have our hunger filled then we have to hunger for HIM and then partake of HIM. Jesus said HE was the bread of life. He also told his disciples that unless they ate of HIS body and drank of HIS blood then they couldn't be a part of him. To hunger for JESUS is to hunger for what HE hungers for. When his disciples came back from a town and asked him about food for the evening HE told them HE had food they didn't know about. The food of doing HIS Father's will. If we are to have the hunger filled up with the right food we have to do as HE did. OBEY the father in all things. Prayer, loving others, service to others, relationship to the Father through JESUS, obeying what HE says to do and what not to do. The Bible tells us that GOD prefers obedience to sacrifice. In fact Jesus tells us that if we love HIM, we will obey HIM. GOD already loves us. Coming into relationship with HIM fills the first part of our hunger--to be loved. Obeying HIM allows the second part of our hunger--loving HIM--to be filled. So if you are hungry for GOD and know that it's Christ you are hungry for, you have started well. You know what you hunger for, and nothing else will do. As HE told the woman at the well, "if you had asked me I would have given you living water and you would never thirst again." She instantly understood what she was thirsty for (same idea as hunger) when she told him to give her this water HE spoke of. But if you know what you want and what you need but then don't eat it, or settle for something else, then you have the problem of knowing you didn't really hit the spot and though you may be full you will either be unhealthy, unfulfilled, or upset that you didn't get what you wanted and needed. IF we hunger for JESUS but don't partake of HIM that's what we end up with. EAT WELL.
posted by Darol at 11:08 PM