A Daily Dose of Good News
Wednesday, November 3, 2021
Today, this devotional will be offered online at https://youtu.be/rYGerVEc_Ss
A printer-friendly version of today’s devotion is available at DDGN 20211103
Additionally, if you’d like to talk about this Daily Dose of Good News further, or previous ones, have questions, or additional thoughts, please feel free to email me at sara.wunsch@engagedbygrace.org. I’d love to interactively engage with you about them.
Good morning! It’s time for our Daily Dose of Good News and we are in Micah today, 6: 1-8. Micah is one of those really skinny little books in the Bible, one of the prophets who we don’t hear very much about, but I think you’ll recognize the very last first verse. So, take a listen…
Hear what the Lord says:
Rise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.
Hear, you mountains, the controversy of the Lord,
and you enduring foundations of the earth;
for the Lord has a controversy with his people,
and he will contend with Israel.
“O my people, what have I done to you?
In what have I wearied you? Answer me!
For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
and redeemed you from the house of slavery;
and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam.
O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised,
what Balaam son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.”
“With what shall I come before the Lord,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Here ends the reading.
I enjoy hearing about God getting agitated with us, because I think we’ve got to be so exasperating! (Laughs). Don’t you think we’re so frustrating and we’re so annoying, because God saves us over and over and over again! I think that question by God of: “How have I wearied you?”It sounds like a parent who’s like: ‘I went and bought all your groceries at the store, and took you to practice, and ran around and did all these things for you and you don’t even notice! You act like I’m wearing you!’ “I brought you out of slavery! You’ve seen all this devastation around you, and I save you over and over again!” So, yeah, God is exasperated with us.
God kind of boils it down in that last verse, of: “What do I ask of you? Do justice. Love kindness. Walk humbly with your God”. Those three things.
So today, I’ve got a couple of questions for you. Are we weary with God ? Do we act like God’s not working for us? Do we act like God’s not perpetually trying to save us, help us and prevent us from falling into calamity? Do we take for granted the things God has done for us?
The first question is: Are we wearied by God? Are we taking for granted the things God has done for us- as if they’re not spectacular?
Secondly which one of those final three components, might God want you to focus on this week? Or even for longer than this week? Where do you struggle? Is it hard to be kind right now to other people? Is it hard to do justice pieces, because it feels out of your comfort zone or it feels overwhelming? Is it hard to be humble right now with your God? Are you pretty sure that what you think is right and you’re adamant in that position and not listening to God or anyone else?
These are things for you to ponder today: where might God want you to open up, act differently, go deeper- to bring what God considers a sacrifice? In the realm of justice? Or kindness? Or being humble and walking with God in that?
With God, not away from God- walking humbly with God. Where do we go off on our own, on our own paths, in our own ways? Where do we ignore justice and not want to look at it? Where do we not want to do kindness to our neighbors and we resist that? Whether consciously or unconsciously and we act in ways which are unkind.
Lots to ponder today! But the Good News in all of that is that your God has saved you from so many things. Your God loves you. But your God is challenging you and contending with you, just like God contends with Israel and saying: “Thisis what I want from you”. This is part of being my follower. So, where do you feel encouraged, prompted, or agitated to move in the direction God wants for you today? Have a great day, everybody! Bye-bye.
