Tag: Spokesperson

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The Curse of Passivity.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Every nook and cranny of Edom will be searched and looted. Every treasure will be found and taken. “All your allies will turn against you. They will help to chase you from your land. They will promise you peace while plotting to deceive and destroy you. Your trusted friends will set traps for you, and you won’t even know about it. At that time not a single wise person will be left in the whole land of Edom,” says the Lord. “For on the mountains of Edom I will destroy everyone who has understanding. ‭‭Obadiah‬ ‭1‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Who is Edom and why was God so angry with them? This is what the one chapter spokesperson of God explains to us. [link]. Edom is Esau’s clan! Jacob’s brother and son to Isaac. Although Esau made peace with Jacob, he never did make peace with God. But as a warrior from birth, he was able to capture and keep the hilltop city of Mount Seir. The city that was impossible to conquer. Obadiah himself was an Edomite.

Why was God so angry with the Edomites? Their passivity towards their own people, Israel was unacceptable. A people who wanted peace at all cost, lives with no risk and safety with no conscience. Obadiah spells it out in his prophetic word of destruction towards his own brothers. “Because of the violence you did to your close relatives in Israel, you will be filled with shame and destroyed forever. When they were invaded, you stood aloof, refusing to help them. Foreign invaders carried off their wealth and cast lots to divide up Jerusalem, but you acted like one of Israel’s enemies.” Obadiah‬ ‭1‬:‭10‬-‭11‬.

Under the guise of passivity lies the sins of pride. The ethos of Esau, withdrawing from his family because of perceived betrayal and favoritism. The egregious act of Esau marrying one the arch enemies of Israel, the Canaanites – Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael Abraham’s son. Then holding up in a fortified city on the hill, all created a cultural elitism and gloating when Israel was mercilessly attacked time and time again. God declared that enough was enough.

Even though the Edomites believed no one could possibly touch them, in their haven in the heavenly, God declared, “Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down.” And God did. Edomites were driven from their land by the Nabateans, they migrated to the southern part of Israel and became known as Idumeans. [link] Much later in biblical history, Herod the Great, an Idumean, appears on the scene. It was Herod who tried to kill the infant Jesus in Bethlehem—through Herod, the rebellion of Edom continued. In AD 70, the Idumeans joined the Israelites in their revolt against Rome, and they were wiped out when Jerusalem was destroyed. At that point, the descendants of Esau disappeared from human history, just as God had said.

Passivity mixed with pride, safety and peace at the cost of loss of human lives is a horrible combination for any country, any people group. Edomites did so in arrogant rebellion against God. Can you think of countries with similar beliefs? Ever heard of the Bystander Effect? [link]. Edomites were an entire ancient people group that chose to not get involved.

Prayer

​Dad,
Is this us today? Is this the Church trying to be so neutral that it ends up being disengaged with highly controversial, highly contagious social viruses? I don’t want to be like Esau or the Edomites. I also see direct connections to our position on the country of Israel. They are really being targeted and once again there are stirring echoes of hate surrounding the Jewish people! It seems so surreal that this mysterious animosity keeps looping through time lashing out at the Jewish people. Obadiah’s words are eerily relevant today, “The day is near when I, the Lord, will judge all godless nations! As you have done to Israel, so it will be done to you. All your evil deeds will fall back on your own heads.” So I pray for the peace of Israel! Amen.

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The call.

Reading Time: 4 minutes

The Lord gave me this message: “I knew you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations.” “O Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!” The Lord replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. And don’t be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken!” Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said, “Look, I have put my words in your mouth! Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. Some you must uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow. Others you must build up and plant. ‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭1‬:‭4‬-‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jeremiah records the moment that he received the call to be a spokesperson for God. Jeremiah was about 17 years old and faced rejection, depression, and loneliness for 40 years. He was known as the “Weeping Prophet.” Interestingly enough, Jeremiah, like many others who tried protesting God’s call, said, “I can’t speak and I am too young.” God did not take “no” for an answer.

Oftentimes we wrestle over the idea of a “calling” from God, not just because of feeling ill equipped, but also having a little bit of understanding of the scope of what this calling would mean. Finding leaders is always hard, I have found the best of them are resident and uncertain of their abilities. There’s something suspicious of people who are overeager to say yes! This also means we struggle with the idea of “free will” and the ability to say NO to God. We’ve seen some examples of this, especially with our angry prophet, Jonah! Jeremiah gets his orders and God promises to give him the words to speak and somehow even the nerve to stand up to kings and nations. Scriptures leave no record of how he died. Church tradition suggests that Jeremiah was stoned to death in Egypt by the Jews. We do know that the grief he bore was because of the stubbornness and hard hearted response from Judah’s kings. Jeremiah delivered God’s words to five kings, Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah. God even forewarned Jeremiah that he would be a part of dethroning, “tearing down,” and uprooting kings and kingdoms. He was faithful to deliver what God told him to say to the nation right up to the time they were captured and led to Babylon, to become slaves serving in a 70 year time out from God.

For the majority of prophets, they were given a tough assignment, speak God’s words and warnings. Kings rarely listened. I am reminded that Nathan had the courage to confront David about his heinous sin of adultery and murder. He cleverly delivered the correction in the form of a story of someone being taken advantage of, triggering David’s own sensitivity towards the underdog. The prophets are heralded as heroes, and they were. But they were not treated as such in their day. Jesus points out the ignored truth in Matthew and Luke’s gospels, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets.” As well as this also in Luke, “Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them.” The religious leaders loved quoting and bantering over what the prophets said, blind to the fact that, in their day, their words were not received. So, when the prophets spoke explicitly about the messiah, detailing what this future deliverer would look like and act like, future religious leaders chose to twist the scriptures to fit their own projected desires of Israel once again rising to become a superpower on the global scene.

Who wants to recognize the call of God on their life? Who wants to acknowledge they are ill equipped and cannot speak? It is still difficult to accept today! Not as prophets to the nations, but simply acknowledging God’s hand on one’s life. As one who begrudgingly said yes to God’s calling, also at seventeen, it was a heavy decision. I really didn’t know exactly what I was saying yes to! I was learning both discipline and obedience at the time. God had to present the question several times before I gave in and said yes. Do I regret it? No. Is it hard to live up to and stick with it all these years later? Yes, it is often difficult, lonely and a struggle. Yet, I still carry the gratitude and responsibility of being obedient to God.

Prayer

​Dad,
Reflecting on Jeremiah’s calling and knowing his story, I am reminded of my own life. I am nowhere on the same level as the Old Testament prophets, it’s not even close. But still, I do carry the weight and responsibility of Your calling. It is a high and difficult honor! I still feel unworthy. I don’t stutter as much in my speech, but I still stutter in my soul! I feel your heartbreak when I am not obedient or see the anguish of those who will not listen to your words and obey you. You will make our paths straight only through submitting to Your will. Am thankful to walk in this path of the “called?” I am thankful for your grace, forgiveness and mercy to even begin to still hear your voice beckoning me to come and follow. Amen.

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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.