Avenging Sinfulness

Bob was in my second grade class. Bob wasn’t a common kid name back then. Seemed like something a grandpa ought to be named. Maybe due to his name, but probably due to his life he was just plain mean. Blonde haired. Freckle-faced. Stout and feisty. Bob was a schoolyard bully.

I was skinny, passive, unassuming, and quiet. A perfect target for bully Bob. Not the fighting type at that stage of my life, Bob's provocations could turn my eyes to fire & set my heart pounding with the desire to avenge myself. He always seemed to get me when the teacher wasn't looking. I’ll never forget after he’d picked on me one day I’d had enough. 

With all my fire and prophetic power scrawny me could muster I pronounced upon him in my most menacing voice, “Some day you’ll get yours, Bob. Some day somebody will give you what you’ve been giving others. Some day someone will pound you, Bob. And when they do I wanna be there to see you faaaaaaaaaall!”  

Can’t say that I finished with a wicked laugh. Can say that I can still recall that visceral rush of standing up to my rival, Bob the Bully.

Obadiah is not unlike that. The prophet Obadiah pronounces God’s judgment on behalf of God’s people, Judah, against the rival nation of Edom.

The bad blood between these two nations goes back to the womb (Genesis 25:22-23) and the rivalry between Jacob and Esau, the patriarchs of the nations that would become Judah and Edom respectively. Everything the Old Testament says of the Edomites is negative aside from one command not to abhor them in Deuteronomy 23:7-8. The two nations fought frequently & there are a number of other prophecies against Edom. There was no love lost. These were rivals.

Little is know about Obadiah the person. His name means “Servant of God.” The exact date of his prophecy andwriting are unknown, yet based on the calamity that had fallen upon Judah mentioned in verses 11-14 the timing was most probably the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 BC. The Edomites lived in dessert mountains to the south of Judah. They too fell to Babylon in 553.

Obadiah may be the least known book of the entire Bible. The shortest book in the Old Testament—only 21 verses—it also contains themes of judgment and condemnation. Two more reasons we may care to know little of Obadiah. Yet God included Obadiah in the Bible to be instructive to us.

The Edomites had been treacherous, engaging in violence toward Judah. Furthermore, they’d been callous, not coming to Judah’s aid in time of trial & even taking advantage of it. And, to make it worse, the Edomites were indifferent to Sovereign God. Obadiah, not unlike my pronouncement to Bob the Bully, was announcing God’s purpose to avenge his people and the sinfulness of the Edomites.

As you take a few minutes to read Obadiah—you can click here to read it or hear it on YouVersion—consider the following questions:

• What do wee learn about God from Obadiah?
• What do we learn about human nature within Obadiah?
• How does this change the way you will pray for yourself and your rivals?

Please share this post and subscribe to follow future posts. This is the fourth post complimenting our sermon series Major Stuff from the Minor Prophets surveying one of the twelve books each week.

Practicing Religion

You shave. Daily. Or at least regularly. If you are an American adult reading this, then chances are good that you shave. Man or woman. Blade or electric. You shave.

Do you think about it? How to shave, that is? Apply the cream like this. Hold the razor like that. Move from here to there, but be careful of that other spot. Apply some pressure, but not too much. And so on.

Do you think about it? Chances are good that you don’t. You don’t really think about shaving. You’ve done it enough. You just do it. Paying a little attention to what you are doing. But maybe not fully in the moment. Just going through the motions. Autopilot.

Autopilot works for shaving. It doesn’t for worship.

“Oh, wait, Aaron, but I can put it on autopilot in worship. I can be there, but not there. In body but not in spirit, ya know.” Yes, I know. We all can. But then it’s not real worship. Autopilot doesn't work for worship.

Amos, a Judean shepherd and fig-picker by self description, was called by God to prophesy to the Northern Kingdom of Israel in the 8th century. He ministered from about 760-750 B.C. The Old Testament Minor Prophet book bearing his name was written in that same time.

Amos began his message with a unique rhetorical device. Reading from 1:1, you will notice that Amos pulled his audience in by naming the sins of nations all around Israel. Even sister nation Judah. This geographic, prophetic circle, however, was more like a noose tightening around the People of Israel. Throughout the book Amos contrasts God’s sovereignty with Israel’s sins. Through prophetic warnings in poetic imagery Amos paints warnings with words. yet there is hope. There is always hope. As God promises the restoration of His people in the final verses, 9:11-15.

Israel was God’s People. Israel had sinned. Disregarding rights. Trampling the poor. And merely practicing religion.

Israel—blessed immeasurably by God—was no longer living in relationship with God. They “went to worship” but they did not worship. They were on spiritual autopilot. Going through the motions of a religion of men. Missing the faith of relationship with God.

Amos pronounces for God in 4:4,

Go to Bethel and sin;
go to Gilgal and sin yet more.
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
your tithes every three years. 

The People of Israel were going through the motions of worship to please themselves. Almost sarcastically God tells them to sin in the places they had set aside to worship. Their worship had become sinful. Just as their lives. 

Have you disconnected organized church worship from your personal relationship with God? 

Have you disconnected your love relationship with God from your love humanity made in his image? 

Don’t just practice religion. Live a relationship.

You’re not shaving. You’re serving. Serving the Sovereign God who loves.

Read Amos this week. Share this post with someone. Subscribe to follow. This is the third post complimenting our sermon series Major Stuff from the Minor Prophets surveying one of the twelve books each week.

Coming Judgment

Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy hill.
Let all who live in the land tremble,
for the day of the Lord is coming.
It is close at hand—

a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was in ancient times
nor ever will be in ages to come.

Before them fire devours,
behind them a flame blazes.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,
behind them, a desert waste—
nothing escapes them.

They have the appearance of horses;
they gallop along like cavalry.

With a noise like that of chariots
they leap over the mountaintops,
like a crackling fire consuming stubble,
like a mighty army drawn up for battle.

At the sight of them, nations are in anguish;
every face turns pale.

The words of Joel 2:1-6 NIV. Words of coming judgment. Words of warning terror.

Can you imagine such a sight? The sound? The foreboding? The devastation to follow? Locust plagues still occur today. One locust, commonly known as a grasshopper, is small thing. An inch or two long. Millions of locusts, however, are a devasting force. For acres and miles.

God loved His people, Judah. Yet His people, enjoying the prosperity of His blessing, had grown away from Him. Worship had become ritual. Life had become selfish.

In His everlasting, covenant love, God needed to capture the attention of His people. By His sovereign power, God brought a locust plague to do it. Inspired by God, Joel prophesied of a greater judgment coming, the Day of the Lord, with the plague of locust as his terrible, unavoidable illustration.

God’s judgment would be swift, thorough, and absolute. Every person—eldest to youngest, richest to poorest, positioned to humbled—would be effected (2:15-17). Every person should return to God (2:12-13). Every person should humble themselves before God in broken confession and genuine repentance. 

Then, in response to the genuine return of His people, God would relent of the judgment Joel warned of (2:18). Then, because of His grace, God would pout out His Spirit on people and everyone who calls on Him will be saved (2:28-32).

The Book of Joel is of uncertain date. With no kings or major events to tie it to. And Joel himself is a bit of a mystery. A common name with little other than his father’s name to describe him by. At three chapters and just 73 verse you can read it in about 10 minutes. Yet Joel still has a message of warning for us today.

When was the last time you endured some calamity, even tragedy, in your life? 

Did you turn your attention to having a right relationship with God in the midst of it?

God loves you enough that He will either allow or cause negative circumstances in order to turn you back toward Him. He is gracious and compassionate (2:13) and He will save (2:32). Return to him. Before judgment comes. 

This post, based on the Old Testament Book of Joel, is the second in a twelve-week survey series, Major Stuff from the Minor Prophets. To receive future posts automatically, please subscribe to the site via RSS or FeedBurner.

Transforming Love

When’s the last time you heard a sermon from Haggai? Can’t remember. Not even sure you can pronounce it. Have you ever heard a sermon from Obadiah? Probably not. Even though you think you can say it right.

That gap in our biblical preaching is one reason our church will be walking through the Minor Prophets for the next twelve weeks. The greater reason, however, is that the messages of the Old Testament’s twelve Minor Prophets are completely applicable to life today. There is Major Stuff in the Minor Prophets.

As such, I’m inviting both my blog readers and my church family along. Each Monday or Tuesday, I’ll post an introduction to the following Sunday’s book. We’ll share some background and a few application questions. It’ll prepare us for Sunday, but mores so that we might live a life shaped by God’s changeless truth.

Taking the books in canonical order, we’ll begin today with Hosea.

Melanie had a card given to me before the ceremony on our wedding day. The front of the card read, “Here comes the bride all dressed in white. Here comes the groom...” The verse continued inside, “but Frankly nobody cares about rental boy. It’s all about the babe in the dress.” Still makes me smile. 

I love my wife. She is a righteous babe. In more ways than one. On our wedding day we entered a three-party covenant with one another and God to be faithfully united for life. I married up. Way up. Melanie is God’s grace to me.

Many of you are married too. You know the feeling of being blessed by God and your spouse. But what if God had told you ahead of time that in spite of your marriage covenant your spouse would cheat on you, parent the children of others, and have to be bought back as if a slave? Would you still have married your spouse? Would you still consider your spouse an act of God’s amazing grace?

Obeying God, Hosea the prophet, did just that. His marriage to Gomer was a living parable of the relationship of the Nation of Israel with God. Israel turned to false gods as an adulterous spouse. God continued to love her and call her back even seeking to reconcile. Israel ultimately fell to Assyria by God’s judgment in 722 BC. Chapters 1-3 recount the relationship of Hosea and Gomer. Chapters 4-14 are a collection of speeches from Hosea’s 30 year prophetic career in Israel. The Book of Hosea is a call to repentance and return to the faithful Lord God. It is a call to be transformed by God’s covenant love.

Who is wise? He will realize these things. Who is discerning? He will understand them. The ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but the rebellious stumble in them. Hosea 14:9 NIV84

Today, let’s use the two rhetorical questions of the concluding verse of Hosea to apply God’s Word to our lives. 

What does God want me to do in faithfulness to Him?

How can I seek God to better discern His will?

Don’t forget, read the book of Hosea for a better overall understanding, personal reflection, and application of it’s truths. And, as always, feel free to share a comment below, share this post, or subscribe for future posts.

Muzzled

Sticks & stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.

Not true.

Your words can hurt others. Your words can hurt you.

You might need a muzzle. 

I use words. Lots of words. I have conversations. Long conversations. I tell stories. Long stories. I preach sermons. Long... you get the picture. About the only thing I do with words that is short is tweet. 140 characters or less. There’s some economy for you.

So, the other day, reading in the midst of my Bible in a year plan a verse jumped off the page and smacked me on the mouth. Psalm 39:1 HCSB says: 

I said, "I will guard my ways so that I may not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle as long as the wicked are in my presence."

One proverb. Two statements. A couplet. It’s Hebrew parallelism. This type is progressive parallelism. Makes one statement, then the second statement of the couplet progresses beyond the first.

What do we learn from this proverb?

Guard our tongues lest we sin. Gotcha. It’s a needed aphorism. Many of us are good at getting ourselves into trouble by what we say.

Then the second half—the progressive part that moves beyond the first—tells us not only to guard our prone-to-sin-mouths, but to muzzle ourselves. When? When wicked folks are near.

What’s the point?

Our words can be sinful. They can hurt others. They can hurt us. And our own sinful words can be as fearsome as the bite of a vicious dog when uttered in the earshot of the wicked. The wicked take sin and make it worse. Scary worse. Call the pound worse. Put that animal down worse.

Watch your mouth, Friends.

Muzzle as needed.