Day 182: The Inescapable God (2024)

This episode delves into the biblical readings from 2 Kings and Micah, emphasizing themes of judgment, repentance, and the unyielding presence of God as explored through the scripture.

1. The destructive path of King Ahaz exemplifies the severe consequences of turning away from God.
2. Micah’s prophecies underscore the importance of communal repentance and the dangers of societal corruption.
3. Despite the grim warnings, there is a persistent promise of restoration and peace if people turn back to God.
4. The teachings emphasize the inescapability of God's presence and knowledge, a comforting or daunting reality depending on one’s spiritual state.
5. The episode highlights the cyclical nature of sin and redemption as a central theme of the biblical narrative.

1: Introduction to Prophetic Readings

Father Mike introduces the prophets and the context of their messages, focusing on their relevance to both ancient and modern listeners. Father Mike Schmitz: "Today, as we delve into the writings of the prophets, we see not just ancient texts but mirrors reflecting our own world back at us."

2: The Story of King Ahaz

The episode examines King Ahaz’s reign, highlighting his idolatrous practices and their consequences, illustrating the personal and communal fallout of abandoning God. Father Mike Schmitz: "Ahaz’s actions brought not only his downfall but also affected his entire kingdom."

3: The Prophecies of Micah

Discussion on Micah’s dire warnings to the leaders and people of his time, emphasizing the themes of justice and divine retribution intertwined with hope. Father Mike Schmitz: "Micah calls out the corruption at the heart of society, demanding a return to divine justice."

4: Reflections on Spiritual Presence

Explores Psalm 139’s themes of God’s omnipresence and omniscience, prompting introspection about the personal relationship with the divine. Father Mike Schmitz: "You can never flee from God’s presence; it’s a fundamental truth that should guide our actions."

• Reflect daily on your actions and their alignment with your spiritual values.
• Engage in community service to embody the principles of compassion and justice.
• Study scripture regularly to deepen your understanding of its teachings.
• Practice regular confession or mindfulness to cultivate a habit of self-improvement.
• Seek accountability within your spiritual community to maintain your path.

Congratulations, you've made it about halfway through the Bible in a Year journey! Today, we read again about king Ahaz's unfaithfulness in 2 Kings. We are also introduced to the prophet Micah, who is all about judgement and hope, and we read one of Fr. Mike's favorite psalms. Today's readings are 2 Kings 16, Micah 1-4, and Psalm 139.

People

Ahaz, Micah, Uriah the priest

Content Warnings:

None

Father Mike Schmitz
Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a year podcast where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of scripture. The Bible in a year podcast is brought to you by ascension using the great adventure Bible timeline. We'll read all the way from Genesis to revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story. Today, it is day 182. We are reading from two kings, chapter 16 from Micah, chapters one, two, three, and four.

And we're also praying psalm 139, one of my favorite psalms in the Bible. I have a lot of favorites, I guess. But we also are introduced to the prophet Micah, which is pretty phenomenal. Micah is a contemporary of Isaiah in the Old Testament, and he is prophesying not just to the people of Israel, he's prophesying to the people of Judah as well. He's prophesying to all of God's people and calling them back to repentance, telling them what's going to happen if they don't repent and don't back to the Lord.

Sounds like a prophet. He is. So we're reading from Micah one through four today, and then tomorrow from Micah five through seven. As always, the Bible translation that I reading from is the revised standard Version, the second catholic edition. I'm using the great adventure Bible from Ascension.

If you want to download your own bible in a year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com bibleinaear. And if you want to, you can subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe. As I said, it's day 182. And I think that that means when you're halfway through, when you're halfway through this, today's readings, you will be halfway through the entire Bible. Is that accurate?

When it comes to math, 365 divided by two is what? 182.5. That sounds right. Is that good math? Maybe.

Maybe it is good math. If it is good math, then hey, congratulations. This is the midpoint. Well, not yet. In the middle of this day, it'll be the midpoint.

So go you. Congratulations, everybody. This is a phenomenal, I mean, I'm sorry, not go you go us, because this is the team, this is the folks who have been faithful on this for the last 182 days. So I'm. What a gift to be able to walk with y'all.

Here we are, day 182, reading two kings, 16, Micah one, two, three and four, and praying psalm 139, the second book of kings, chapter 16. Ahaz reigns over Judah in the 17th year of Pekah, the son of Ramaliah Ahaz, the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign. And he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done.

But he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. He even burned his son as an offering according to the abominable practices of the nations whom the lord drove out before the people of Israel. And he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. Then Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Ramaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz but could not conquer him. At that time, the king of Edom recovered elath for Edom and drove the men of Judah from.

And the Edomites came to a lot where they dwell to this day. So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath Pilser, king of Assyria, saying, I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel who are attacking me. Ahaz also took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the lord and in the treasures of the king's house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. And the king of Assyria listened to him.

The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus and took it, carrying its people captive to Kir. And he killed Rezin. When king Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath Pielser, king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And king Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar and its pattern exact in all its details. And Uriah the priest built the altar in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus.

So Uriah the priest made it before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it and burnt his burnt offering and his cereal offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar and the bronze altar, which was before the lord. He removed from the front of the house, from the place between his altar and the house of the Lord and put it on the north side of his altar. And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, upon the great altar, burn the morning burnt offering and the evening cereal offering, and the king's burnt offering and his cereal offering with the burnt offering of all the people of the land and their cereal offering and their drink offering, and throw upon it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice.

But the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by Uriah the priest did all this as king Ahaz commanded. And king Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the laver from them. And he took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it upon a pediment of stone. And the covered way for the Sabbath, which had been built inside the palace. And the outer entrance for the king, he removed from the house of the lord.

Because the king of Assyria, now the rest of the acts of Ahaz which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? And Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the city of David. And Hezekiah, his son, reigned in his stead.

The book of Micah. Chapter one, prophecy concerning Samaria and Judah. The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Morasheth in the days of Jotham. Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Hear, you, peoples, all of you.

Listen, o earth and all that is in it. And let the Lord God be a witness against you. The Lord from his holy temple. For behold, the Lord is coming forth out of his place and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will be cleft like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place.

All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the sin of the house of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?

Therefore, I will make Samaria a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards. And I will pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations. All her images shall be beaten to pieces. All her hires shall be burned with fire. And all her idols I will lay waste.

For from the hire of a harlot she gathered them. And to the hire of a harlot they shall return. For this I will lament and wail. I will go stripped and naked. I will make lamentation like the jackals and mourning like the ostriches.

For her wound is incurable, and it has come to Judah. It has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem, till it not in gath. Weep not at all in bet Leopfra. Roll yourselves in the dust. Pass on your way.

Inhabitants of Shafir, in nakedness and shame, the inhabitants of Zannan, do not come forth. The wailing of bet Ezel shall take away from you its standing place. For the inhabitants of Meroth, wait anxiously for good, because evil has come down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem. Harness the steeds to the chariots. Inhabitants of Lakshesh, you were the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, for in you were found the transgressions of Israel.

Therefore you shall give parting gifts to moresheth Gath. The houses of Axzib shall be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel. I will again bring a conqueror upon you. Inhabitants of Marasha, the glory of Israel shall come to Adullam. Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair for the children of your delight.

Make yourselves as bald as the eagle, for they shall go from you into exile. Chapter two evils of the people denounced, but a remnant will be gathered. Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil upon their beds when the morning dawns. They perform it because it is in the power of their hand. They covet fields and seize them and houses and take them away.

They oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance. Therefore thus says the behold against this family I am devising evil, from which you cannot remove your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be an evil time. In that day they shall take up a taunt song against you and wail with bitter lamentation and say, we are utterly ruined. He changes the portion of my people. How?

He removes it from me. Among our captors he divides our fields. Therefore you will have none to cast the line by lot in the assembly of the Lord. Do not preach thus. They preach.

One should not preach of such things. Disgrace will not overtake us. Should this be said, o house of Jacob, is the spirit of the lord impatient are these his doings? Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly? But you rise against my people as an enemy.

You strip the robe from the peaceful, from those who pass by trustingly, with no thought of war. The women of my people you drive out from their pleasant houses, from their young children you take away my glory forever. Arise and go, for this is no place to rest because of uncleanness that destroys with a grievous destruction. If a man should go about in utter wind and lies, saying, I will preach to you of wine and strong drink. He would be the preacher for this people.

I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob. I will gather the remnant of Israel. I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture. A noisy multitude of Mendez, he who opens the breach, will go up before them. They will break through and pass the gate going out by it.

The king will pass on before them, the lord at their head. Chapter three evil rulers and prophets and I said, here, you, heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel. Is it not for you to know justice, you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin from off my people and their flesh from off their bones, who eat the flesh of my people and fly their skin from off them, and break their bones in pieces and chop them up like meat in a kettle, like flesh in a cauldron. Then they will cry to the Lord, but he will not answer them. He will hide his face from them at that time, because they have made their deeds evil.

Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets, who lead my people astray, who cry peace when they have something to eat, but declare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths. Therefore it shall be night to you without vision and darkness to you without divination. The sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be black over them. The seers shall be disgraced, and the diviners put to shame. They shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God.

But as for me, I am filled with power, with the spirit of the Lord, with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert all equity, who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wrong. 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.

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. Chapter four prophecy of restoration of Zion 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, and many nations shall come and say, come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the goddess 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 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 the sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall set 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. For all the peoples walk, each in the name of its 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 and gather those who have been driven away and those whom I have afflicted 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 forevermore. 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. Now why do you cry aloud?

Is there no king in you? Has your counsellor perished, that pangs have seized you like a woman in labor, writhe and groan, o daughter of Zion, like a woman with labor pains. For now ye 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.

Now many nations are assembled against you, saying, let her be profaned, and let our eyes gaze upon Zion. 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. 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.

Psalm 139 the inescapable God to the choir master, a psalm of David O lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways, even before a word is on my tongue. Behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You beset me behind and before and lay your hand upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. Where shall I go from your spirit, or where shall I flee from your presence if I ascend to heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in sheol, you are there.

If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, let only darkness cover me and the light around me be night. Even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts.

You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am wondrously made. Wonderful are your works. You know me right well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately wrought in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, o God. How vast is the sum of them. If I would count them, they are more than the sand.

When I awake, I am still with you. O that you would slay the wicked, o God, and that men of blood would depart from me, men who maliciously defy you, who lift themselves up against you for evil. Do I not hate them that hate you, o Lord? And do I not loathe them that rise up against you? I hate them with perfect hatred.

I count them my enemies. Search me, o God, and know my heart. Try me and know my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the way everlasting father in heaven, we give you. Praise God. Thank you so much.

Thank you. You are. I love this title of this psalm, the inescapable God. You are the inescapable God because you formed us in the depths of our being. You formed us and we were hidden in our mother's wombs.

You, Lord God, have known us and you have known us through and through, known us thoroughly, and we can never escape you. And why would we? Lord God, help us. Help us to let you find us. Help us to seek after you and not run from you, not race to the ends of the sea or to the to fly to earths.

And we ask you to please, help us to stop, to turn back to you and to be found by you, because you are the God who loves us and help us to let ourselves be loved by you. In this unstoppable and inescapable way we make this prayer in Jesus name, in the name of the father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay, so here we have in two kings, chapter 16. Today, Ahaz.

Ahaz is nothing. Great guy, right? But Ahaz is gonna. There's gonna be a lot of connection points, right? Because at this point, Ahaz did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord.

He did not live like his father, Jotham, did not live like his grandfather, Azariah Uzziah. But Ahaz actually incorporated. We heard about this in two chronicles. He incorporated the practices of the Canaanites. Right?

He actually even sacrificed his own son to the God Molech, which is just remarkably out there, right? It's almost unimaginable. Now, remember, his father, his grandfather, some of the, even the good kings, they didn't give God good worship. But here's Ahaz, who's turning away from even the worship of Yahweh or worship of the Lord God, and he is worshiping these false gods. And not only that, when he goes to Damascus and to meet the king of Assyria, he comes back and he says to Uriah the priest, he says, oh, hey, I want to alter just like the king of Assyria.

And when Uriah builds an altar just like this. And what does Ahaz do? Ahaz not only de emphasizes the actual altar in the temple, the altar of sacrifice to the Lord God, but he himself acts as priest by offering up, again, false sacrifices to a false God on a false altar. And Ahaz is just not. He's not a good guy.

What's happening, though, of course, is the tensions are mounting. And so you see, the king of Syria and the king of Israel are teaming up against the king of Judah. Ahaz is the king of Judah. And so what happens? Well, Isaiah, the prophet comes to Ahaz and basically says, the Lord God will, if you want to belong to the Lord God, like, he will fight for you in this.

This is Isaiah, chapter seven. We're going to get that in a bunch of days from now. Isaiah, chapter seven. It's the great prophecy of Immanuel, right? The great prophecy of, behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and you shall name him Immanuel, which means God is with us.

Because at some point, Isaiah comes to Ahaz and says, the Lord says, ask me whatever you want. And Ahaz says, I will not ask. I will not tempt the Lord. And that sounds really holy. It sounds really humble of Ahaz.

Like, no, I'm not going to ask. But what it reveals is Ahaz already has a plan and his plan is not to ask God for help. It's not to lean on God for help. It's to go to the king of Assyria and make a deal with him. And because of that, he'll be able to fight against the king of Syria, teamed up with the king of Israel.

And this does nothing, does not go well. In fact, it's horrible because Assyria is the kingdom that is going to destroy Israel and lead them into exile permanently until the fulfillment in the. In the new covenant rite and also pave the way for the destruction of the southern kingdom. And that's going to happen really quick here, coming up in the next couple of days. Which brings us to the prophet Micah.

So it was just great. I just. I love how these are just coming together. Micah is a prophet at the same time as Isaiah, right? So we have Isaiah coming to Ahaz in chapter seven.

We also have Micah, who's preaching at the time of it, says Jotham Ahaz and Hezekiah. So Jotham, Ahaz's dad and Hezekiah Ahaz's son, Micah, is preaching at the same time. And Micah is. He is just like the prophets. He's all but judgment and hope, right?

He's saying, like, here's what's happening. You are turning far from the Lord. And I. What's going to happen is there's going to be judgment. But also, even in the midst of the book of the prophet Micah, there is hope that God keeps saying.

Keeps saying, like, no, just listen, though. Come back to me because I will do something remarkable. But he's noting that Assyria is going to come and Assyria is going to destroy. He knows Babylon is going to come and Babylon is going to destroy. Because why?

Because the leaders are corrupt. The rulers of the people are corrupt, and the prophets are corrupt. The leaders, they will do unjust things. But even the prophets, it says that the prophets will prophesy something good for you if you pay them. And they'll prophesy something bad for you if you don't pay them.

And just this shows the corruption, that of the leadership, both the temporal leadership. Right. The rulers and leaders, the kings, and the spiritual leadership of those prophets. And my guess is maybe also the priests in this case, but that corruption is going to be so awful that here is God in chapter two, who says, basically, okay, here's the judgment's gonna happen. But also he says, I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob.

This is chapter two. I will gather the remnant of Israel. I will set them together like sheep in a fold like flock in its pasture. Basically, even in the midst of this judgment, God says, but I'm gonna be the shepherd. But I'm gonna be the good shepherd.

Here we know that Jesus fulfills that ultimately. And he, and he says, I am the good shepherd. And that's just such a remarkable promise. The last thing I just wanna highlight is in Micah chapter four, where this incredible promise of restoration, again, right in the midst of this word of judgment upon Zion, it says, in those days it'll come to pass. This is after.

This is after exile. This is after everything. Looks like the story is over and done and will never, ever regain any kind of sense of blessing. But in those days, it shall come to pass that the mountain of the Lord's house, remember, Zion is the mountain of the Lord's house, shall be established as the highest of mountains, raised above the hills, and all peoples shall flow to it. And many nations shall come and say, come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways, then we may walk in his paths.

And like this is, this is remarkable because. Why? Because Jesus himself. Ah, gosh. The new covenant.

Jesus extends the blessings of God to the people of Israel, to the entire world, and fulfills them to the entire world, in Christianity, in the church. And this is so many nations, right? Not just the jewish people. They were the first chosen, and they were chosen for a specific purpose. Remember, Abraham, the promise is Abraham through you.

You'll have a kingdom, you'll have land, you'll have worldwide blessing. The entire world will be blessed through you. And here's Micah, the prophet in chapter four, saying, this is going to happen, but it's going to happen after exile. It's going to happen after judgment. It's going to happen after the darkest day of the people of Israel's lives up to this point.

But that person, that Lord himself shall judge between many nations shall decide for strong nations, afar off, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, their spears into pruning hooks. And then there's this line. This is great. They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none of them shall be afraid. That's a line not only from the book of Micah, that's a line from Hamilton at the musical where I.

When George Washington is retiring. And he just wants to have that place of rest, that time of restoration, after fighting his whole life, after establishing the nation of the United States of America, he just wants to be able to sit under his vine, under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid. But it's not about George Washington. This is about Jesus. For all peoples will walk in each in the name of its God, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God.

And that is the declaration that every one of us who belongs to God, we just need to say, yep, all peoples, they walk each in the name of their own God. But we will walk in the name of the Lord our God. And so we walk in the name of Christ this day and every day, but only with his grace. And so, as we always do, as we always conclude, ah, just gotta pray for each other, because it's hard to convert, it's hard to repent, it's hard to be faithful to the Lord when we all feel like we're walking in darkness. And so often we are walking in darkness.

And yet, as the psalm said, darkness is not dark. For you, Lord Goddess, so help us. Help us to walk, even when we don't know which is the next good step to take. Let's pray for each other. I'm praying for you.

Please pray for me. My name is Fr. Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God blessed.