“Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, so that we may walk in His paths. The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.” Micah 4:2 NIV
There are times in life when you just get yourself into a fix. You know what I’m talking about, those moments when you find yourself in a real pinch and the reason you find yourself there is because of the works of your own hands. Either it was something you said, something you did, or maybe how you treated someone. And later on down the road you find yourself looking in life’s rearview mirror and asking yourself what went wrong. But as you replay those scenarios in your head, did you ever find yourself there because you did too much good? Did you ever find yourself in that big argument or nasty disagreement because you treated the other person with too much love, respect, and honor? Or did you ever find yourself in that nasty scrape because you did what you knew to be too upright, too moral, and overly righteous? As I ask myself these very questions the answers bring back just exactly what I had done to get myself between that rock and that hard place. And sadly I cannot say it was ever because I did too much of God’s good.
If you break down the metanarrative of the Old Testament portion of the Bible it is actually very simple in its overarching message. All humans are sinners and left to themselves they will naturally reject and then rebel from their Creator, Almighty God. But Almighty God possesses a love so rich and profound that He desires to have a relationship with his beloved creation, even when they rebel and choose their own destructive ways over His. So out of this love, God sent men and women to proclaim this truth and call the rebellious into a faithfully corrective path. Those men and women of the Old Testament are called prophets, that is, those who deliver the very Words of God. Today I am specifically studying the prophetic book of Micah and within chapter 4 I find a message from the Lord that is beyond miraculous in its simplicity. Within its words we can find peace in this world, perfect purpose in our lives, and well, everything good that our loving God wants for us in this life. But there is action required…we must listen to what He says and then do it.
“He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” Micah 4:2b NIV
Here’s a crazy hypothetical for you to chew on. If you created your own world and your own creatures to live within it, would you have a specific set of rules for your world and your inhabitants? I mean, as its creator, wouldn’t you have a bigger purpose for your creation than to just randomly make something and then let it operate independently of your plan? And how would you desire for your set of rules and instructions to be received by your creation? Would it please you for your creation to read them and do them, or disregard them, ignoring them and instead doing what they thought was better? How would this make you feel as you watched your world run off the tracks because your plan was being disregarded and ignored? Folks, really settle into this line of thought because this is exactly the message Micah is delivering for the Lord here. God has created this world, everything in it, and every person upon it and He has a perfect plan for it all. And to see His perfect plan for His world and everyone in it come to fruition, He left a very specific set of instructions and rules in order to see it operate to its maximum potential. What are those instructions God left? His Word, the Holy Bible, the Scriptures. And as Micah so eloquently states in simplistic clarity, all we have to do is learn God’s ways and then walk in those ways. And friends, if you are walking in the ways of the Lord and truly walking His path and not your own, you will find yourself in less and less scrapes, problems, arguments and disagreements. You just can’t do enough of God’s good. And when you do God's good, God’s good will find you in return.
But the real question here is, how can you walk a certain path without first finding the trailhead? And after you find the trailhead to that path, how can you expect to walk a complex, at times even dangerous daily path, without constant direction and divine instruction? Friends, God has given us all we need in this life to live a daily life that is not simply mundane, boring, or stressful, but abundant in God’s peace, goodness, and joy. In fact, Jesus Christ even gives us His own affirmation of this fact in His own very Words in the book of John:
“I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows]. John 10:10 AMP
Folks today there is a rich, rewarding, freeing life full of God’s peace, joy, and goodness and it is awaiting you with open arms. And just how do find and construct this abundant life? Well, where any construction project begins…with the blueprints. God has given us all we need, we must simply read, study, and meditate upon His Words day and night. For within His Words lie the abundant life that He promises to each one of His beloved creations. However, the impetus is on you, beyond just hearing the Words of God, you must do what they say.
“But don’t just listen to God’s Word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.” James 1:22 NLT
May your path today be full of God’s rich and loving Words of instruction ~ Dan
Photo ~ into the sunset, Cozumel Island, Quintano Roo, Mexico
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