A New Idea

A Reflective post by my son Brett ... from his blog "Life in Manila" 

A New Idea: "Yesterday I was in class and we did this Bible reflection thing called 'Lectio Divina.' After relaxing ourselves and our minds, our teacher read a paraphrased version of Genesis 1:1-6, then paused, then read it again. After the second reading we were to write what stuck out, or was special to us, or really anything. I am ADHD, which means I don't sit still, I have a hard time paying attention to a speaker, and the 'H' stands for hyperactive which speaks for itself. For me to calm my brain down and meditate is border line impossible. But I gave it my best, because I know the importance of slowing everything down and just focusing on God. I did ok, but I think I would have needed a much longer amount of time.

One thing that blew me away was my classmate's reflections. A Korean classmate humbled me with an amazing insight and beautiful poem. I am actually going to try and post it here because it was so wonderful. But after listening, suddenly I had an idea to write a series of reflections on the glory of God. I want to take some of my favorite passages and write about how it displays the glory of God. Sometimes we can get lost in the Bible, and without some important insights, we can be misguided, so I hope to take some not-so-common verses as well and maybe even try some of the challenging passages and expand them and show how glorious God is.

So here we go, I hope you can join me in constantly being stunned and in awe and wonder of God, and how truly wonderful He is:

His Glory Reflection Series - Part 1

'Look! The Lord is coming! He leaves His throne in heaven and tramples the heights of the earth. The mountains melt beneath His feet and flow into the valleys like wax in a fire, like water pouring down a hill.' Micah 1:3-4

Maybe you have tried to read the books of the prophets and read a passage like this and wondered what on earth God was doing? I would call this a stereotypical view of God, He is off in heaven holding His lightning bolts waiting for us to sin, and then fry our butts when we sin. Now, when I read this it makes me excited, and I begin to grasp a little more of the seemingly endless torrent of His glory.

What's important is to know why the author used this metaphor. At this time the Israelites were in a wonderful time of blessing. They were living it up, and people were getting rich, and in turn more were getting poor. If you read the book of Micah you can't miss the theme of justice. Micah's words are powerful, I like to call him the 'drop kick prophet,' because every time he spoke it was like a drop kick in the chest for the people he was talking to! Here is an example:

'Should you no know justice, you who hate good and love evil; who tear the skin from my people and the flesh from their bones; who eat my people's flesh, strip off their skin and break their bones in pieces; who chop them up like meat for the pan, like flesh for the pot?' Micah 3:1-3

Wow, imagine if you are the one he was saying that to. But Micah was burning from the inside out because of the injustice his nation was committing. They were in a wonderful time of blessing, but instead of living virtuous lives, they were like dogs fighting for all they could get. They cheated the poor, forgot the laws God had set before them, and choose to worship other Gods.

I get excited about God when I read the first verse I wrote because God was angry about the injustice. Imagine what it means for the poor to hear that God cares and sees injustice? Think of the picture that Micah is painting - a giant god coming down from heaven and smashing through the mountains and making them crumble like nothing. Micah was disgusted, and God had had enough! The chosen people of God had forgotten their purpose, they were to be the priestly nation, demonstrating the ways of God to the world, but instead they got entitlement mixed up with responsibility and lost sight of it all.

God's glory jumps off the pages because the one who made everything, I mean think about it - everything you have ever seen, person ever talked to, thing ever touched was spoken into existence by Him, and He cares and is even angered over the injustice He sees? Wow!!!!

Tonight I was speaking with a 9 year old boy in a squatter area. His dad pulled up in a pedicab(a bike with a side car on it used to take passengers around) extremely drunk. He hobbled over to me, sat down, looked at his son, the boy I was talking to and said the boy was bad. I wanted to drop kick him right then and there. I know him, and he has been a drunk for a long time, beat his wife till she left him, and he embarrasses his family waddling around drunk everyday and never provides for them. Go to any squatter area in the Philippines and he is a dime a dozen - but why? The easy thing to do would be to drop kick him, but the reality there is a lot more to this story. But the bottom line is injustice. It's having a life time of dignity stripped away from you, every chance to lead to an endless road of turns that will never get a person anywhere. It's a government who has got entitlement mixed up with responsibility. It's leaders who forget justice and love personal gain. Seems though Micah penned this down about 2700 years ago, but still the same thing is going on.

I celebrate God because He did not forget the people at the bottom! Those whose voices went unheard, were heard and God cared then, and He cares today, and the same way He burned with anger then He burns today! But where are the Micah's to call out the mutilators of flesh and declare that justice be upheld? Where are the intelligent, educated, and connected Issiah's elegantly rebuking a nation and guiding back to God? Where are the men and women who like Micah are seemingly burning from the inside with disgust? Where are the Amos' coming from the farms but willing to call out all those above him for their injustice?

I celebrate God because He uses people like these incredible men, to fearlessly preach to the nation what no one wanted to hear! Gods glory becomes tangible in these verses because He cares and when I see the poorest of the poor I know that even if no one looks twice my God sees them sitting there and has not forgotten. I see Gods glory in these verses because every time you have to look into the eyes of a child who has no hope, I know the one who breathed life into them truly cares about them!

I celebrate God in all His glory!

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