Tag: Morning Musings

Morning Musing: Micah 5:10-14

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“In that day — this is the Lord’s declaration — I will remove your horses from you and wreck your chariots. I will remove the cities of your land and tear down all your fortresses. I will remove sorceries from your hands, and you will not have any more fortune-tellers. I will remove your carved images and sacred pillars from you so that you will no longer worship the work of your hands. I will pull up the Asherah poles from among you and demolish your cities.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

If you were to read these verses all by themselves and without knowing anything about what came before them, what would you think is Micah’s focus? What is “that day” in which God is going to do all of this removing and destroying? As a first guess you might go with something like the day of judgment. That would make sense. On what other day would God do all these kinds of things to the people? Well, as it turns out, that’s not quite right. In context, this all falls not on a day of judgment, but a day of restoration. What gives? Let’s talk about it.

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Morning Musing: Micah 4:11-12

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“Many nations have now assembled against you; they say, ‘Let her be defiled, and let us feast our eyes on Zion.’ But they do not know the Lord’s intentions or understand his plan, that he has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

We have recently been watching the new season of America’s Got Talent: The Champions. This particular version of the immensely popular show premiered last year as a kind of best-of-the-best competition, but one that includes the best acts from all over the world. It’s a lot of fun seeing some of our favorite acts as well as some new amazing talent. While I enjoy many of the performers, the ones I tend to enjoy most fall in line with what God is saying here through His prophet Micah.

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Morning Musing: Micah 4:3

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“He will settle disputes among many peoples and provide arbitration for strong nations that are far away. They will beat their swords into plows and their spears into pruning knives. Nation will not take up the sword against nation, and they will never again train for war.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

We live in a day when chaos seems to reign more and more. We may be 80 years from the last armed conflict that could truly be described as a world war, but the world seems to be at war everywhere we look. For those who live in areas where this conflict is part of the rhythm of daily life it is exhausting. When will it end? We don’t know that, but we do know beyond a shadow of doubt that it will.

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Morning Musing: Jonah 3:10

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“God saw their actions — that they had turned from their evil ways — so God relented from the disaster he had threatened them with. And he did not do it.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

One of the greatest Christmas movies of all time (after Die Hard) is Home Alone. And whether you agree with me or not, it is a fact that it’s the third highest grossing Christmas movie ever (behind the recent remake of The Grinch at number two and Iron Man 3 running away with the top spot). In any event, one of my favorite scenes comes right at the very end when Kevin walks downstairs Christmas morning and finds his mom standing there. She apologizes earnestly for their forgetting him when they left on vacation and there’s this moment where it looks like he’s deciding whether to forgive her or not. Then he breaks into a big grin and everybody lives happily ever after (except the bad guys). That scene could have been inspired by what happens here in Jonah.

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Morning Musing: Jonah‬ ‭3:5-6‬‬

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“Then the people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth — from the greatest of them to the least. When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever witnessed something incredible happening? I’m not worried about exactly what it was right now, but have you seen it with your own eyes? Better yet, have you ever seen something incredible happen that was the direct result of something you had done? What happened right here in the city of Nineveh was incredible. But, while it may look like it, it had a lot less to do with what Jonah did than you might think.

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