Read on Twitter
But as for me... a new blog for anyone who has been struggling with 2020 https://brandongrimm.org/2020/11/25/but-as-for-me/">https://brandongrimm.org/2020/11/2...
If you are like me, it is safe to the last 6-10 months have constantly required me to ask myself, "where am I really at with all of this that is going on?" I have asked myself that more times than I can remember because let& #39;s face it, these are confusing and trying times…
…steeped in uncertainty and misinformation. It is hard to know what to believe and what not to believe.
I have had my moments of having my feelings of unsettledness trickle over the line into the world of doubt and pity. It seems that we are all longing for things to "get back to normal" whatever that once looked liked.
I can& #39;t help but think of the relevance to what the Bible says in Micah 7.
Micah starts chapter 7 with a phrase that I think all of us have related to at some point in the past several months...."Woe is me!" (7:1) He then goes on to describe himself as a vinedresser, who goes into the vineyard to pick fruit but finds that it is all gone.
First, let& #39;s look at this phrase "Woe is me!". Have you felt this recently? I mean maybe not in these same words but thoughts and feelings of hopelessness or frustration. Thoughts of how could this get any worse? Nothing is going well. Can& #39;t catch a break.
How are we going to be able to figure this out?
Directionless. Lost. Not doing well enough. Missing the mark. Unable to handle any more changes.
Directionless. Lost. Not doing well enough. Missing the mark. Unable to handle any more changes.
You have felt this at some point I& #39;m sure....or at least I have anyway. I can actually picture myself standing in the vineyard of 2020. Looking around at all of the empty vines wondering what just happened.
WOE IS ME!
WOE IS ME!
We actually can find this phrase in another prophet& #39;s book of the Bible. In Isaiah 6 (v5), we see this phrase used in the same way. Verse 5 says, "And I said, Woe is me!
For I am lost" Isaiah and Micah were living around the same time period and this is the first time Isaiah speaks in the book.
Woe is me for I am lost! Sound familiar?
Woe is me for I am lost! Sound familiar?
Micah was living in a nation that was in such a crazy season that he goes on to say in v5-6 that he was not able to put trust in his neighbors and he had no confidence in friends.
The nation& #39;s situation got so bad that relationships were distorted and neighbors, friends and family members turned against each other.
I don& #39;t think it is stretch of the imagination to say that maybe some of you have felt this recently as well, either because of differing views or experiences.
Almost like a sword just cut right through the connections that bound those same relationships. In fact, Jesus referenced this exact thing in Matthew 10:34-37, when he used a sword metaphorically to describe the fracturing of relationships. What did Jesus say next?
He requested unwavering and unqualified allegiance. He called the 12 disciples to put love of God and His Kingdom over everything else, including all other relationships. It was a call to action. A call to put God first and all of the noise and chaos second.
Micah felt this same type of call. He felt that everything around him was crumbling, because it was. Spiraling out of his control, because it was. Divided beyond reasonable repair, because it was.
Something changed for Micah though. Instead of the "woe is me" stance he took in verse 1, we see him take a different stance in verse 7. I want you to see this and I hope you are encouraged by this because it has really resonated with me.
"But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me."
What did Micah do?
What did Micah do?
- No matter the circumstances and how bad or confusing or discouraging they felt, Micah looked to the Lord. Much like Jesus described above, Micah put God first.
He intentionally looked for evidence that God was working and he trusted that was, some way some how, in the end going to be good.
- Micah waited for God. He didn& #39;t try to rush through the difficult season on his own. He waited for God to work His plan in His own way on His own time. God is not defined by space and time. It is one of His great incommunicable attributes and we should be grateful for that.
He specifically mentions that God is the God of his salvation. He needed saved from the brokenness of this world, which included himself. Just like it includes you and I.
- It seems the emphasis on punctuation in the opening statement "Woe is me!" is important in contrast to the quiet and prayerful confidence Micah showed in closing statement "my God will hear me".
What can we do?
What can we do?
- Look in the common places for the common graces. Find the fruits of God& #39;s work in your every day life, no matter how everchanging and hectic it feels. God is working and there is evidence all around us, if we look for it.
- Be patient. God is working on something right now. It will be for His glory and it will be good. That doesn& #39;t mean the next several months or years will be easy for any of us, but that time frame is all part of God& #39;s omnitemporality.
- Pray. God will hear you quietly and confidently call on His name. Whatever you are struggling with. Whatever feels like it is weighing you down. Take it to Jesus. He wants you just as you are. Not the cleaned up and polished version of you.
Not the you that has it all figured out. The 12 he called in Matthew 10 were far from having it all figured out.
In fact, in that same Isaiah verse earlier, he ends it with "for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King".
So no matter what happens in the coming days, weeks, months or years. Whatever that will look like compared to life pre-2020. Which will you choose?
Woe is me!
or
But as for me.....
-Brandon
Woe is me!
or
But as for me.....
-Brandon
This thread can be read here: https://brandongrimm.org/2020/11/25/but-as-for-me/">https://brandongrimm.org/2020/11/2...
