Misery | Wayfarer

“What misery is mine!”
Micah 7:1a (NIV)

May I be honest with you? The past couple of days have been miserable. Like, they’ve been really miserable. I’ll spare you the details. My point is not about sharing my misery, but about how God met me in today’s chapter.

As I have always said, prophesy is layered with meaning. As I wrote in my post last week, the ancient’s prophetic words can at once be about what was, what is, and what yet will be. The ancient prophet Micah’s words in today’s final chapter are certainly about the spiritual, social, and political issues that were happening back in his day. But on a morning when I am acutely feeling misery in the moment and the first words I read are “What misery is mine!” I know there’s something that God’s Spirit has to say to me, today, in this miserable moment.

The first thing God had for me was an empathetic identification of my present reality.

“Now is the time of your confusion.
Do not trust a neighbor;
Put no confidence in a friend.
Even with the woman who lies in your embrace
Guard the words of your lips.”

I am feeling confused. I am feeling distrustful. I am feeling caution with every word I say. Reading these words was God’s Spirit whispering, “I get it.” I needed that.

The second thing God had for me in today’s chapter was a statement of both faith and hope.

“But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD.
I wait for God my Savior;
my God will hear me.”

As I read these words, it felt like a guttural cry of my soul. They became a defiant stance, amidst my present circumstances, in faith that I can trust God and trust the story He is authoring in and through me.

The third thing God had for me was a promise.

“The day for building your walls will come,
the day for extending your boundaries.”

Sometimes, it’s good to be given a glimpse of what’s ahead. I may find myself in a deep valley on life’s road, but there are good things ahead just over the next hill.

So today, I’ll just press forward one step at a time.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

A man may have a hundred children and live many years; yet no matter how long he lives, if he cannot enjoy his prosperity and does not receive proper burial, I say that a stillborn child is better off than he.
Ecclesiastes 6:3 (NIV)

As I have been contemplating the words Ecclesiastes’ Sage this past week, the character of Ebenezer Scrooge has repeatedly come to mind. It happened again in the quiet this morning as I read today’s chapter.

Scrooge is such an embodiment of the person that the Sage describes when he writes of one who has everything and doesn’t enjoy it as he lives life “squinty-eyed in greed and distrust, his body is a musty cellar.” (see Matthew 6:22-23 in The Message). When he describes a man with many children who nevertheless dies alone, unremembered, with no one to give a proper burial, I can’t help but envision Scrooge asking the ghost of Christmas future to show him a single person who felt something, anything at the news of his death. The ghost takes him to the home of a couple who were his tenants. The emotion they felt was one of elation that their merciless landlord was dead as they now had time to get their finances in order.

It’s easy to sound too Hallmark sappy when it comes to expressing the en-joy-ment of life. Yet I find the Sage contrasting those who live in joy and contentment with those who live in misery and discontent no matter their lot in life. I can’t help but hear the echoes of Paul’s words in his letter to the followers of Jesus in Phillipi:

I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself contemplating not only Scrooge’s reputation, but also his transformation. Isn’t it ironic that when I hear the name “Ebenezer Scrooge” my first thought is about what he was, not what he became? I wonder how often I do that with people I’ve known along my life journey. But the transformation is the point of Dicken’s story. It’s the point of the Great Story:

“If anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation. Old things pass away. New things come.”
2 Cor 5:17

And the one who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I’m making all thing new.”
Rev 21:5

Here I am at the beginning of a new day. Where will my heart and eyes lead me this day?

Misery and discontent?

Joy and contentment?

The further I’ve get in my spiritual journey with Christ the former becomes more-and-more of an impossibility, and the latter comes naturally with each breath.

The point of the journey is transformation.

Speaking of enjoying life. Wendy and I are off to enjoy the start of summer at the lake, and I am taking a break from the chapter-a-day journey. I plan to be back on the path June 7. If you need a fix, please visit the index or the ol’ archives. Thousands of chapter-a-day posts to choose from. Cheers!