Obadiah - Desctruction and Restoration

I decided to take a quick break from the Psalms. We have been having a series at church on the minor prophets and last week was Amos. Since I won't be in town this Sunday, I decided to read Obadiah (which I am assuming this week's message is on) and share my thoughts.

One of the interesting things about Obadiah is that it is just one chapter. Like many of the messages by the minor prophets, it speaks about God's wrath toward the wicked and  the loving discipline that will be laid on them, as well as providing a message of hope for the faithful. Since Obadiah is a single chapter, you see all of these in a short amount of writing.

In Obadiah, the people who have turned away from God are the Edomites. The early verses talk about the pride of the nation.

³ The pride of your heart has deceived you,
    you who live in the clefts of the rocks
    and make your home on the heights,
you who say to yourself,
    ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’

Subsequent verses mention the things that God will take from Edom as as a part of their destrution, that are prized by the nation. These include, hidden treasures, her allies, her wise men, and her warriors. All things that Edom relies on, instead of God.

Obadiah goes on further to describe the things Edom has done to the nation of Judah. 

¹⁰ Because of the violence against your brother Jacob,
    you will be covered with shame;
    you will be destroyed forever.
¹¹ On the day you stood aloof
    while strangers carried off his wealth
and foreigners entered his gates
    and cast lots for Jerusalem,
    you were like one of them.
¹² You should not gloat over your brother
    in the day of his misfortune,
nor rejoice over the people of Judah
    in the day of their destruction,
nor boast so much
    in the day of their trouble.
¹³ You should not march through the gates of my people
    in the day of their disaster,
nor gloat over them in their calamity
    in the day of their disaster,
nor seize their wealth
    in the day of their disaster.
¹⁴ You should not wait at the crossroads
    to cut down their fugitives,
nor hand over their survivors
    in the day of their trouble.

Edom and Judah have a history, for sure. They are nations descedent from Jacob and Esau, two brothers. Jacob manipulated Esau out of his birthright and, while the two brother's reconciled, their descendants have held onto bitterness.

(The last verses tell that God's people will once again rule and possess these lands and the message of hope for the faithful is included in this chapter.)

But I want to draw you attention to the last part of verse 18,

There will be no survivors
    from Esau.”
The Lord has spoken

As a human and a Christian, I want to cry out, where is the opportunity for repentance and forgiveness for the Edomites? Don't they get a chance to change and find restoration?

A part of this is because I can recognize times when the sin of pride crops up in my life and I certainly don't want to read the message as, I am doomed to complete destruction.

So let me instead offer up some thoughts I have on this. First, as I mentioned, the nation of Edom had a long-time pattern of enmity towards the nation of Israel.  And Obadiah tells us they were filled with pride and had turned their back on God,. The essence of their identity seems to be wrapped up in their pride and their belief in their ability to make it on their own without God, or a need to show love and mercy to all those around them, specifically the Israelites.

For a moment, let's just jump for a moment to Saul of the New Testament. He had his identity wrapped up in pride.

If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more:circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.(Philippians 3:4b-6)

And he did not show love and mercy toward the followers of Jesus. Saul was stripped of his pride, repented and reconciled with the followers of Jesus...and became Paul. The essence of who Saul was, was utterly destroyed and Paul was born out of the ashes, a phoenix-type experience. In his own way, Saul was an Edomite and was destroyed utterly and reborn as a new person, Paul, one of the faithful who was restored.

Now back to the Edomites and the question of an opportunity for change and restoration, I believe they too had and have the opportunity to be reborn as a new people, ones in relationship with God, filled with love and mercy for others.

If you haven't already traveled there with your thoughts, let me pose the idea that Edomites are all people who, filled with pride,  believe that they are independent of the need for God, the Divine presence that calls us into relationship and speaks to us of love and mercy towards others.

Certainly I am on a journey to utterly destroy my pride that leads me to operate outside of a relationship of love and mercy with others and relationship with God. How about you?

Psalm 55 - Crash and Burn

Well, this is a long overdue post. I was sharing on Wednesday night with a couple of guys from church that I felt a call to get back to this spiritual practice and asked them to check-in with me on it...accountability is a great tool for getting into good practices.

But, for a return to the blog, this psalm was particularly interesting. We get a sense of what David is feeling right away.

Give ear to my prayer, O God,
And do not hide Yourself from my supplication.
² Attend to me, and hear me;
I am restless in my complaint, and moan noisily,
³ Because of the voice of the enemy,
Because of the oppression of the wicked;
For they bring down trouble upon me,
And in wrath they hate me.

 As I read this, I thought, well, I am in a great place and certainly am not relating to David's fear and feel of persecution. As I continued to reflect on this and started thinking about David running from Saul, who had been a close friend, I remember days that I could relate to David's distress. A great sense of gratitude came over me and I remembered the days some one I had been really close to was doing everything possible to make my life difficult and I recognized that those days were in the past.


To feel persecuted by some one who you have developed a relationship with, not only becomes distressing because of the persecution, but also because of the relationship. Possibly it is lost, or at least damaged to some degree. But what was once love, is now twisted into something else. For me, it was such a terrible feeling and I can relate to David being chased by some one who he still cares a great deal for, trying to understand why this is all happening to him...but here I am digressing, because the piece of the scriptures that really grabbed me this morning were later in the psalm.

¹⁶ As for me, I will call upon God,
And the Lord shall save me.
¹⁷ Evening and morning and at noon
I will pray, and cry aloud,
And He shall hear my voice.

 As I read these verses, I felt the peace and strength of the reminder that God is faithful. God listens and God is there. Many times in the psalms, David and other psalmists talk about how God has heard them and has been faithful and this is as true in my life as it was for them. I was also reminded of a song, Crash and Burn by Savage Garden. When I listen to the song, I can't help but think of God.

When you feel all alone
And the world has turned its back on you
Give me a moment please to tame your wild wild heart
I know you feel like the walls are closing in on you
It's hard to find relief and people can be so cold
When darkness is upon your door and you feel like you can't take anymore

Let me be the one you call
If you jump I'll break your fall
Lift you up and fly away with you into the night
If you need to fall apart
I can mend a broken heart
If you need to crash then crash and burn
You're not alone

I encourage you to listen to the whole song or look at the rest of the lyrics and listen to the song on YouTube.


So, are you feeling persecuted or overwhelmed? Know that God is there for you, but also, if you drop me a line, I will be honored to pray for you, that you would feel God's faithfulness.