Based on Micah 4 (New King James Version)
“Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it. Many nations shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off; 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 anymore. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. For all people walk each in the name of his god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. ‘In that day,’ says the Lord, ‘I will assemble the lame, I will gather the outcast and those whom I have afflicted; I will make the lame a remnant, and the outcast a strong nation; so the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion from now on, even forever. And you, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, to you shall it come, even the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.’ Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in your midst? Has your counselor perished? For pangs have seized you like a woman in labor. Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, o daughter of Zion, like a woman in birth pangs. For now you shall go forth from the city, you shall dwell in the field, and to Babylon you shall go. There you shall be delivered; there the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. Now also many nations have gathered against you, who say, ‘Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.’ But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, nor do they understand His counsel; for He will gather them like sheaves to the threshing floor. ‘Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hooves bronze; you shall beat in pieces many peoples; I will consecrate their gain to the Lord, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.’”
Rick Warren once said: “Transformation is a process, and as life happens there are tons of ups and downs. It's a journey of discovery - there are moments on mountaintops and moments in deep valleys of despair.” I think everyone likes to receive promises of blessings, of good things, and of future triumphs. Promises feed our hope, especially when we are going through difficult moments. We always want the promise of a better tomorrow, where everything will be resolved, and where the bad and ugly is left behind, forever. There are also promises of love, of feelings, and of care; when a couple promise each other eternal love when uniting in marriage. In a similar manner, when a new mother and father receive with love a new baby that enters the world; small, fragile, and defenseless; by promising to take care of and raise to the best of their abilities. Promises can give a lot of inspiration to continue moving forward. But, what is it that gives a promise some sort of credibility or validity that a person can put their trust in it? For a promise to have some sort of value to someone, the person that is making the promise must be considered; the factors that validate the person and the promise itself.
For example, in the bond of matrimony, what should be considered so someone can take seriously the promise of love the other person is giving? One of the first things that a person should consider of the person that makes the promise should be their character. What kind of a person are they? Are they a person that truly loves them, and if they know how to love? Is the person responsible, capable, well-intentioned, loyal, faithful, etc.? Are they trustworthy? There are many elements that are truly critical in the character of a person, especially to be able to put some sort of trust in them. And those qualities are not seen right away, but only through the passing of time. This is why many relationships fail, because trust is put on someone that does not have good character, or at minimum, they don’t possess the characteristics that are essential to having a good marriage. I don’t want to sound mechanical or cold, but the butterflies in the stomach don’t help very much, nor physical attraction, nor emotions that come and go depending on the circumstances. Together with love (the most important ingredient), there are other ingredients or essential characteristics that should be a part of the person so that some sort of trust can be put on them, so that a marriage can at least have a chance for survival.
The second thing that should be taken into account is the capacity of the person, or in other words, if they can truly fulfill what they are promising. Even though there may be the best intentions and characteristics in the other person, there are promises that cannot be fulfilled physically. For example, there are people that promise that they will always be there for the other person. This is actually impossible to do. There are times that the person can and will fail because they cannot always be at your side at every moment. There are moments where life gets complicated and people are left alone, per se, in a given moment and emotionally. Daily concerns many times create such a distraction that there is no time to talk, or to vent, etc. There are couples that are so absorbed by this life and its activities, that, as the years go by, people wind up being two strangers sleeping in the same bed. And quite possibly, there may have been good intentions, but that’s all they remain as; good intentions. We are very limited and in different aspects. The process of this life many times chokes out even the best intentions and feelings. Many things are dissolved with time. It’s like the sea that hits land; year after year, wave after wave, it continually erodes even the firmest of land masses.
Now, how does all of this work with today’s passage? Well, God’s promises can be taken very seriously by basing ourselves on the first point we saw: the character of God. God’s virtues are incomparable. God is love. God is faithful. God is merciful. God does not lie. God has given us many things without deserving them; among them, the most important: eternal salvation through His Son Jesus. God does not change; He has been, He is, and will always be the same. He is eternal. And well, God has an endless list of other qualities as the being He is that gives us many reasons to trust His promises. God also infinitely surpasses the other aspect: His capacity. He is God. He is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. In other words, He can be everywhere at the same time, He knows everything, and He can do anything. Basically, He has no limitations.
And the last point, while in route to receiving the promises that God has for those that love Him and look for Him, God desires to carry out a process of transformation in each human being. And this process means that we will go through difficult times, moments that will shake the very foundations of our lives, but with the goal to get rid of what does not have value, and create a treasure out of our lives. Fire is the only thing that cleans gold. So then, the process is part of the way to get to the promises, if we remain in Him, letting Him complete His work in us. So, are you willing to follow through with the process to be able to receive the eternal promises that only God can give and fulfill? Lord bless! John