Random Acts of Reflection #1

I just opened up my Bible and read the first thing that I saw. It happened to be Micah chapter 7. You should read it. I'll bet if you read The Message translation you'd think Micah was talking to us today. My Bible gives the chapter the heading, "The Total Corruption of the People." That's pretty appropriate. Micah is complaining about how depraved people have become -- hunting one another, officials taking bribes, friends and loved ones betraying one another, children hating their parents... Yep, sounds like the world I see around me today.

But what caught my attention in this (after all, there are dozens of passages like this scattered throughout the prophets, Micah isn't unique in his assessment of the wickedness of the people) -- what caught my attention was how he begins this section:

Woe is me! For I have become like one who,

after the summer fruit has been gathered,

after the vintage has been gleaned,

finds no cluster to eat;

there is no first-ripe fig for which I hunger.

My paraphrase for that is:

Oh, man -- I'm STARVING for righteousness...

The thing is, I can read the entire chapter and say to myself, "Wow, that sounds just like the world today. Things are going bad fast -- there's no morality, no trust, no hope..." But I don't begin my complaints -- my rants -- about the sorry state of the world today with any kind or sorrow about the situation. Micah is hurting for his people and their plight. It's eating away at the pit of his stomach. He's starving for righteousness in the land -- but he can't find any.

Not me. I can complain all day about how rotten things can be, but it doesn't affect me. I don't weep for the lost, I don't ache for the hurting -- oh, there might be a twinge every once in a while (you know, like when I'm watching one of those Hallmark card commercials -- or a Hallmark Hall of Fame Special...man, I'm a sap) but a twinge is about as far as it goes. Then I start to wonder what's wrong with me?

But I know I'm not alone. If we all ached for the hurting, wept for the lost, STARVED for righteousness, I think the world would be a whole lot better off. Maybe we'd get moving and actually accomplish something for the betterment of our world -- to advance the kingdom of God -- to do "to the least of these..." Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." Who HUNGER and THIRST for righteousness.

A song just came to mind. The band was Temple of the Dog and the song was "Hunger Strike" (probably came out sometime in the early 90s):

I don't mind

Stealing Bread

From the mouths of decadence...

But I can't feed on the powerless

When my cup's already overfilled

But it's on the table,

The fire's cooking

And they're starving babies,and the slaves are all working...

Blood is on the table,the mouths are chokin'...

I'm goin' hungry...

I don't know if that's what Jesus meant at all -- but it's got me thinking. Maybe it's time I was "goin' hungry..."