Micah 4:6-16

Psalm 79          Micah 4:6-16          Revelation 18:1-10

                 Micah heard from the Lord! He called out to God and now he receives a response. Have you ever heard from the Lord? Maybe you heard a still small voice, or the quiet nudge to go this way instead of that way, or perhaps you could testify to a clear message that God provided in your life.    Micah could offer that testimony. He heard from the Lord.

The message he heard calls us back to our conversation about ‘that day’ the ‘day of the Lord’ or ‘in the last days.’ The message Micah hears from God is about ‘that day’ of transformation and hope that we talked about yesterday. But today the word and the activity of God is fleshed out with clarity.  The actions of God are stated specifically and personally. God is going to gather those who are disabled, retrieve the exiles, and speak to those who grieve.

We learn something about God through this word. We discover what we have known all along.  That God does not seek out the tall, athletic, beautiful, gifted, handsome, or brilliant folks among the people of God as a first option. Instead, God is more likely to think about the poor, the disabled, the grief stricken, the exile, the orphan and the widow.

Perhaps the things we learn about God’s thinking should become an ingredient of our own lives. Perhaps our Advent giving and our Christmas service to others could be directed to the people that arrive first on the mind and heart of God.

The New Testament teaches us that we are to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” The Book of Romans instructs us to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

Would it make any difference in the way we choose to live this day if the mind of God were present in our own lives?