Who's Side is God on?

Scripture Passage that Caught My attention today: Micah 3:11 Its rulers give judgment for a bribe,
its priests teach for a price,
its prophets give oracles for money;
yet they lean upon the LORD and say,
“Surely the LORD is with us!
No harm shall come upon us.”

Observation: No matter what, they wanted to assume that the Lord was with them.

Application: I don’t think any of us who believe in the Lord want the Lord to be against us. We just have so many different ideas of what the Lord likes and/or approves. And often times we base such things on what we like or what we believe. We see God in our image rather than the other way around.

Problem is, in the process of assuming that God is on our side, we tend to demonize those who see things differently. And although we all know that WE are not perfect, we figure we’re ‘good enough’ to merit God’s favor. As for those other people? Well, maybe or maybe not!

The truth, of course, is that none of us actually merits God’s favor. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” is how Paul put it in his book to the Romans. It’s time once again, as it is always, to quit puffing ourselves up with self-righteousness and rather to more humbly consider the fact that we all are merely recipients of grace.

In noticed in the passage above, as one reads on, that much of what the people felt good about was eventually destroyed. Interestingly, however, God did not actually abandon the people themselves. Rather, God promised a day when these same people would beat their swords and other instruments of conquest into something more useful.

Prayer: Lord, thanks for the reminder that you have hopes and dreams for us all, not just those of us who sometimes assume that you are on our side and no other. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

(readings today included: Micah 1-4 and Hebrews 6)