The Book of Micah

Written (at least the first 3 chapters) around 730 B.C. 

The pagan world was dominating and people ordered their lives and worship increasingly around sex/power rituals of Assyrian gods.  Micah is distraught and has a dramatic mourning, naked and an howling.

Chapter 1 says God is bringing judgments and disaster against the pagan ways of his people.  His threat is that the children of the sinful generation will be taken away in captivity.

Chapter 2 Reiterates “woe” to those who do bad because they can.  Some will be stunned and ask how God can be good and bring such harsh punishment, but the prophet’s answer is that God brings good to the good, but yes, will bring punishment to evil doers.  What kind of prophet do the people need?  One who prophesies beer and wine in abundance.  But a promise is made that a remnant will be flocked together under King YHWH.

Chapter 3 Contrasts men of God who learn how to make a profit from God’s word vs. true men of God who are filled with God’s spirit.  The fakers, and their empty promises of safety, will know destruction.

Chapter 4 shows a vision of hope when the house of YHWH will teach people how to live.  Solving problems wisely will make war obsolete and people will be able to abide in safety in their own place.  Now the nations do their own thing, but a day is coming when God’s people will be brought to safety.  It will be after a humbling exile, but the captors will offer their wealth back to God.

Chapter 5 promises a surprise from Bethlehem.  The Shalom will eventually be global but a great fight will precede that peace.  A diaspora will be involved but will end in creation worshippers being confronted by the creation Creator.

Chapter 6 What has God done?  Rescued his people.  How shall we respond?  Love justice and mercy in humility before God.  People must change from their tricks of maximizing wealth.  Investments will be lost and satisfaction not found.  Creation worship will not work, it will be brought down.

Chapter 7 The world will be filled with tricksters and liars, the relatively good people aren’t even good.  Our own relatives will be enemies, not help.  But there is a remnant of those who watch and wait for YHWH and who endure rough times, knowing that eventually God’s wrath will pave the way for God’s right.  God will fulfill is covenant promises.

So HANG IN THERE, TRUST GOD AND DON’T BE A WORLDLY GRABBER

That’s what I saw in Micah this morning.

writing as a discipline

I've descended back into rough journal mode.  No problem.  Just write and see what happens.

I joined a writing club with an atheist sparring partner from the UK.  Actually it took me a while to convince him that I wasn't ready to persuade him, I just wanted to understand him.  The tricky part was for him to get to where he could answer my questions without trying to guess how my question was some kind of setup.  After conceding a few points regarding religious delusion he finally relaxed a bit. Interestingly we got to the point that is the crux of my own understanding of neutral's position on the whole God vs. Nature debate: determinism.

For personhood to be real in any familiar sense, there seems to be the necessity for the concept of personhood to transcend the material.  In ultimate terms that would the the I AM, pure personhood.  Matter/Energy, then, comes from personhood, not the other way around.

For my atheist friend he was hovering around the question by reasoning that consistency should make him a determinist.  He even had vague convictions from partly remembered articles on current brain science to suggest the same.  But it just didn't seem like how he experiences life.  The apparent illusion of active personhood, real choosing, was just too compelling.  It is a problem for him.

I'm off to write on my combo book: Hope without Hype~ finding the meaning of life without becoming a weirdo.  Journey + Perspective + Perscription

achieving

Easy answer: I want ETERNAL achievements, not temporal ones.

Actual answer: What was the question??

I have to figure out my AT&T bill.  Don't want to start the debate till i get my facts straight.  Can't figure out the facts.  Should just talk to them directly.  But I don't want to start the debate till i get my facts straight.

etc.

Should I want eternal achievements or temporal ones?  Yeah, I figured that was the question.  The problem is that I live in the temporal world and am squeezed by it.  How to I abide in the eternal while actually abiding in a temporal mind, body and context??

QT is one answer.  Old spiritual disciplines is a slightly deeper answer.  But the fundamental challenge is using temporal dynamics to direct oneself to trans-temporal ideals.  Hungry, fidgeting, perceiving, wondering and wandering.    The naturalistic identity is rather loud.  Sometimes hard to find the the transcendent identity.  Quite the fight, actually.

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."  (I wonder how hard it was??)

Greg Matte's sermon on Jn 15 ABIDE

Followers of Jesus are not meant to live in the muck.  We are meant to be lifted up onto the trestle where we can live clean.  Our objective is to be unhindered in our connection to the vine.  By focusing on abiding in the vine we are fulfilling our purpose.  Productivity is a by-product.

Application: distinguish identity and role.  Abide in Christ, find identity in him, frees us from the tyranny of productivity/achievement.  And, it tends to result in ample productivity anyway.

Problem aspect: unproductive burned up.
Answer: 1 Corinthians 3 judgment of works, we are still saved, but as through fire.

IF we don't abide in Christ all of our self produced achievements will be burned up in an instant.  The only way to have lasting achievements is to abide.

So, for me, what does that look like?  Abiding seems to be settling in, taking up residence; unpacking.  For me to abide I need to unpack my stuff.  Ideally I will sort through things, getting rid of clutter and ordering my space.  But even if I'm a bit slobbish, abiding still means I'm at home.  Belonging is not undermined, not fundamentally, by being messy.  Essentially it just impedes enjoying the goodness.  Reasonable tidiness is much more efficient, pleasant and courteous than sloppiness.

So the metaphor pushes toward experiencing Shalom in the Father's home as a legit son, full stop.  From that security, not seeking for security, tidying up stuff is a wise and good pursuit.

As for productivity, the critical decision is do i want eternally lasting achievements or will temporal achievements be enough?