Obadiah has something to say

As often mentioned here, I teach every week or so, an adult women's life group class. While I follow the structure of The Gospel Project literature I'm given (and it's good, no disses here), I don't always follow the spirit.

We did not meet on the 29th, so I'm combining two lessons in one: Daniel 7 and Obadiah. Suffice it to say Obadiah doesn't get taught much or talked about any in popular evangelical conversation, but since I'm scheduled to teach it, here goes. The lessons of Obadiah: 

God judges but warns over and over and over about it.  These warnings about judgment are signs of His compassion and righteousness. In our minds we split those up, but God’s character, being, whatever we call it can’t be separated. We talk about God as such an abstraction, such a construct, rather than a person. That is probably a step, or jump, to loving God, knowing God. 

 Getting away from the construct, theoretical, dissecting language and understanding Him more as a whole, a whole that encompasses the entirety of everything (without being the physical world, from which He is separate as Creator and Sustainer).   

We treat God much like we do people. We distill one characteristic of the person—a role, a background point, a feature—and usually deal with that  when we communicate with them, rather than seeing their wholeness. Can we see their wholeness? Well, more of it, but it’s hard. It’s easier to just see the server in the restaurant as the person who works there and brings me the food I want, or my pastor as the man who is supposed to preach and be a spiritual example or my coworker as a function-fulfiller. 

We distill out some part of God’s “nature” and treat Him as a function-fulfiller, a role. God of the universe—take care of my problem. Compassionate friend—listen to me and make me feel better.  Creator of the physical world—heal my friend’s infirmity or make it stop raining.

How would we be different if we saw God holistically? As kind, holy, compassionate, wrathful, wise, eternal, loving, and righteous all at the same time? His judgment is kind and compassionate; his compassion is righteous and holy and wise. Perhaps we would enter into a more mature approach to others, the world around us, and to God Himself.

Second lesson of Obadiah: As much as the Old Testament, the First Testament, seems to be only about the Jews, it is not. The world “the nations” referring to non-Jews is used 310 times in the Bible. Sometimes these words refer to judgment due to the nations disdain for God or their persecution of Israel or the righteous, but as often the reference is to the redemption God will bring the nations, specifically through the Jews. The Israelites/Judahites were to be a light to the Gentiles while at the same time being the cultural incubator for the coming Messiah.  See Genesis 22:18, Psalm 2, Isaiah 34:1 (and much of the prophets). 

This will be my last post of the year and perhaps the decade; I'm not sure about the latter. I'm coming up on 2200 posts in my time on this blog.  Happy New Year!