Think about that for just a second. We could read it in the Bible and look at God talking to Israel and just kinda disassociate from it, but what if we personalized it. What if God were here saying, what have I done to you, why have I done to make you so tired of me? Answer me. I don’t, I don’t even know what I would do. I can’t even imagine, that is very disruptive to think about because I’m trying not to live like, right, and we’re all trying not to live like that. But we’re broken people, and we find ourselves in brokenness all the time. And for some reason, we seem addicted to certain kinds of brokenness that we just, what, for whatever reason has us. But as God is saying in Micah, like all these things that you turn too are made out of your own hands. They can’t breathe, they can’t smell, the can’t hear you, they can’t bless you, they can’t do anything for you, you’re missing the point, you’re wasting your life. What did I do to make you so tired of me? Man! We…we find ourselves asking God that question. What I do? Why are you so mad at me? We don’t expect that kind of question from God. Like, God is asking what else He has to do be seen by us, to get our attention. What else He has to do to prove His love. That is, that…that’s heartbreaking friends. It makes me want to cry. That’s heartbreaking to think that we could cause our Heavenly Father those feelings. And then God listed all kinds of ways that He had been caring for His people, the ways that He had protected them, and that they still betrayed Him. And so, in response Micah muses about what…what can be done and speaks through the mouth of Israel. Like, what could they bring, like knowing this, now that God is here and we see who we are and we see what we’ve done, and there is no explanation, and there is no justification, and there is no redemption outside of God. What are we supposed to do now that God is here confronting us? Is it rituals, is it sacrifice, is it worship, is it singing, is it their repentance that they would scream and shout, is that what God wants from them? It’s just that’s not what God wants. When Israel muses what do You want, what can we do, what, do You want this, do You want that? We’ll do this, we’ll do that. God says no. He has told you mortals what is good in His sight. What else does the eternal ask of you, but to live justly and to love kindness, and to walk with your God in all humility. There it is. That is what God wants from us. And in this season, in this season especially, should we not give Him what He wants? He wants us to do what is right. He wants us to act justly, He wants us to love mercy, which is different than being merciful once in a while, He wants us to love mercy. He wants us to walk humbly with Him, to have our life and being in this world with the awareness of His presence, that it is He who is animating us, He is the source of life, and He is reviewing his love for Earth’s people through our lives. That’s what He wants. But isn’t that what we want too? Isn’t it just that we want to be the boss. We want Him to do what we say, when it doesn’t work that way, we do what He says. I mean, Christmas is a busy time. I’m getting frazzled too. We’re busy, more busy than most times of the year. Rhythms are disrupted, running around doing this and that, and beneath all that, at least for me, I get the blues and existential questions come into my mind. And what is the purpose, and it’s important to remember things like what God is spoken through Micah. It can kind of simplify things back down to the essential core, when we begin to realize that the mayhem of Christmas time may not be what God wants. It’s what we want and it’s fun and He enjoys that. But He is interested in our lives that we might do what is right, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God. Let’s go out and do that today.
Prayer:
And Father, we…we can’t do it without You. So, we become aware of Your presence here and now, knowing that Your presence will accompany us wherever we step, wherever we go. You see and hear it all, nothing is hidden from You. And we want to include You in all that we do and say. So, come Holy Spirit, and be involved in every word that we speak, every thought that we have, every action that we take today. We ask this in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com is home base, that is the website. It’s where you can find out what’s happening, and we know it’s Christmas time around here because it’s Christmas time around everywhere. And Christmas time around The Daily Audio Bible this year is centered around the music of the Daily Audio Bible. I’ve been saying it for a couple weeks now. We pressed five different projects from the music of the Daily Audio Bible. The Sleep album, the Heart album, The Promised Land album, and then Family Christmas and Christmas Time, two holiday titles for this season. And they’re on commemorative, like it’s a keepsake, limited-edition vinyl and colored vinyl. It’s beautiful to have. And we are using these this year to sew into what comes next for us in the new year with new infrastructure and a brand-new app coming our way. So, thank you for your partnership on that. You can find these at dailyaudiobible.com or using the app, just go to the Shop and then you’ll find the Christmas Section and it’s in there. And so, thank you for your partnership.
And if you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible here at the end of the year, thank you, humbly, humbly, there is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is P.O. Box 1996 Springhill, Tennessee 37174.
And as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app, that’s little red button up at the top, or you can dial 877-942-4253.
And that’s it for today, I’m Brian, I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Prayer and Encouragements:
This is Jodi from North Carolina. I am calling in for Delta Alpha Foxtrot and Blind Tony, as well as some other prayer requests that I ask the family to join me in praying tonight. Father, we lift up Delta Alpha Foxtrot and Blind Tony to You. Lord, I pray that You would bring joy to their grieving hearts, the loss of their loved ones and all those out there who have not called in, who have lost so many this past year. Just pray that You would heal our hearts and heal our grief. And help us to find the joy in You and know that You are in control. And our loved ones are with You. And we will see them again and they are in a better place. And Father, I pray for Tony, that You would provide for him and his sister a safe place for them to live, with warmth and water and all that they need. Pray that the damage to their home is not so great that they’re unable to live there. And I pray that insurance would cover all the damages and that they would not have any financial loss ahead of them because of this. Father, I pray that You would lift them up and encourage them in their struggles. Father, I pray in my life, and I ask the family to pray with me for my husband. I will be seeing him for the first time in over a month for a couple of days. He has one more month to decide if he’s going to continue to file for divorce. So, I pray that Lord, You work in his heart that You would stop the plans of the devil, stop the plans of Satan from ruining more marriages in our country. Just do a world of change in my husband’s heart. In Jesus name I pray. I pray for our time together, for all those that are struggling. In Christ name I pray. Amen.
Hello, my DAB family, this is Mark Street from Sydney, Australia today. Is Tuesday the 5th of December and I’m listening to the prayers, and I heard Blind Tony saying that he had a fire in his house and I just wanted to pray for him. Heavenly Father, we come to You humbly. Asking that You protect Tony and his family, Lord. Lord, You know how much he loves this community and how much he loves You, Lord. And Lord, restore the things that the enemy has taken away from him. Lord, all things are possible with You. We know, and Lord, look down upon Tony and his family and shower your blessings upon him in the way that You know is correct. In your name Lord. I love you Tony and I’m thinking of you as well. Love you family. Mark Street, Sydney, Australia. Bye.
Hey DAB family. This is In the Vine in Indiana again and I’m calling and just letting you know that it is possible. It is possible to get through what you’re going through. It is possible, even though that tunnel where the light seems so far away, it is possible. Where you fall off the track of the Bible. Where you fall off track with God. Where you fall off the track of life. It is possible, it is very possible. There was a moment in my life, which you guys know a little bit about. And I won’t go into detail because I don’t want to put myself out there too much. You know, as my dad would say. But it’s been, it has been hard. I was in a situation where I couldn’t be in school for like two weeks. And for whatever reason, you know, of course I fell away from God that time. But I have, this is just such an awesome app where I have been able to keep in touch with the Bible. Now, it’s still sad that I haven’t touched my paper Bible in quite a while but I’m learning to keep picking that up too. And not lean too much on this. But it’s the Bible and its commentary so I don’t know why it’s so bad in my head. But anyway, yeah, so it is possible to get to where you’re going through. Just keep pushing and looking at a small white, ever gentle voice at the end of the tunnel, telling you to come here. Telling you that you got this. Telling you to come on. You got this and man is there an audience just waiting for you. You know what I mean. Alright, bye, I love you and I’ll see you in a little bit. Bye.
Good morning DABers, this is John Opar. I can’t believe for a second day in a row I’ve had to call in as usual, I’m calling in from South Sudan. And we are enjoying our rainy season and humid weather. But anyway, just wanted to talk to a brother who called in and can’t remember his name, but he’s really beat up about his marriage. He’s been married for ten years, and he said that things are not looking good. This time and that he owned up to the fact that he has not been doing what he’s supposed to do as a child of God. You would think that at 35 years of marriage that I would have something to tell you that would help you. But the fact is, I do not. All I can tell you is that you are in a good place, that you recognize that God is the answer, and He is truly the answer. For me, over 35 years I’ve…I’ve gone through a lot. Maybe a lot more than you. But God has kept us up till now. And I know He will keep you and your wife. One thing that I have learned to do is Ephesians chapter 6 from verse 10, that we wrestle not against flesh and blood but principalities of darkness. May God help you, in Jesus name. Amen.