A Perfect Peace Micah 3:9-4:13

9. Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert all equity, 10. who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wrong. 11. Its heads give judgment for a bribe, its priests teach for hire, its prophets divine for money; yet they lean upon the Lord and say, "Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No evil shall come upon us." 12. Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height. Mic 4:1. It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, 2. and many nations shall come, and say: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 3. He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide for strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more; 4. but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. 5. For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. 6. In that day, says the Lord, I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away, and those whom I have afflicted; 7. and the lame I will make the remnant; and those who were cast off, a strong nation; and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from this time forth and for evermore. 8. And you, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come, the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. 9. Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, that pangs have seized you like a woman in travail? 10. Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now you shall go forth from the city and dwell in the open country; you shall go to Babylon. There you shall be rescued, there the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. 11. Now many nations are assembled against you, saying, "Let her be profaned, and let our eyes gaze upon Zion." 12. But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, they do not understand his plan, that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor. 13. Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn iron and your hoofs bronze; you shall beat in pieces many peoples, and shall devote their gain to the Lord, their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.

Beat their swords into plowshares. That sounds like an impossible hope and expectation, doesn't it?! Especially considering the state of the world right now. I know that the magnitude of the battles being fought in countries all over the world don't necessarily compare to those in WWII, but there are many, many of a smaller scale being waged every single day.

We only hear and read about the "important" ones. I'm getting a bit political here -- I've sworn I would never advance my own political agenda on this website, and I have gone so far as to designate a couple of trusted advisors to let me know if and when I cross that line. . . So, I'll let you know tomorrow if they tell me it has occurred! This is not about political parties, or idealogical agendas. This scripture talks about perfect peace.

What does that look like? What does it sound like? Feel like? How would our lives be lived in that perfect peace? I have always believed that if the U.S. announced one day that we will no longer go to war--against anyone--for any reason--that the world would be dumbfounded. And people tell me that's ridiculous, because we would be annhiliated by other countries with powerful weapons, ruled by rulers with a hunger for power, and a greedy desire to possess not only us and all we have, but everyone and everything on this earth.

I'm sorry. I still think it could and should happen. I believe we will be protected by God's supernatural power and love. And guess what, nothing on this earth belongs to us, or to any other person or country. It all belongs to God. And He expects us to take care of it, and to take care of each other.

So just imagine, for just one second, what the headlines would look like tomorrow morning if the U.S. announced to the U.N. General Assembly that we will no longer wage war. Can you imagine it? Can you imagine a world where all the wealth and resources were distributed equitably. Where no children went to bed hungry -- and we stopped blaming their parents for being poor. Where no homeless people died of exposure -- and we stopped blaming them for their mental incapacity. Where no person had to steal or kill or lie or cheat -- because everything they needed was available and shared by all. And when that all comes to be there will still be enough and a hundred times more than enough for everyone to have everything they need.

I choose to believe it's possible. And I know that makes me an idealist -- maybe you even think I'm crazy, or at least naive. But I choose to believe it anyway. And I do so because God has declared that it can be so. And He never lies. He never breaks His promises. He never goes back on His word.

He love us and He loves this world He created for us. We owe it to Him to at least imagine that the whole world would beat their swords into plowshares in gratitude.

I hope you spend your day imagining a perfect peace, working toward the kingdom where the word of the Lord from Jerusalem is spread throughout the world.

Mary  ¶ 8:19 AM