The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 199: Times for War (2023)

Episode Date: July 18, 2023

Fr. Mike explains why Joel would say that there are certain times for war, even within God's plan. In a broken world, we are sometimes going to be called to fight the brokenness around us, but we must believe that God is allowing this not because he likes war, but because something better will come in its place. Today's readings are Isaiah 16-17, Joel 3, and Proverbs 10:21-24. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

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 199. You guys, one more day, and it's day 200. How amazing is that? We're reading from Isaiah chapter 16 and 17. We're reading the conclusion of the book of

the prophet Joel chapter 3. We're also reading Proverbs chapter 10 verses 21 through 24. The Bible translation that I'm reading from is the revised standard version, 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 slash Bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe and you receive daily episode updates and all that stuff. Because gosh, you guys, day 199, if you haven't figured it out by now, you probably have a system.

Even if you've not subscribed, you probably have a system like, listen, bro, father, I know how to get it. Don't worry about me. I'm not worried about you. I just want to, I want to make sure. Maybe your friends, maybe your friends want to jump in on day 199 and they don't even know what to do. Man, help your friends out. Subscribe.

Teach them how to subscribe. As I said, it's day 199. We are reading Isaiah chapter 16 and 17. Joel chapter 3. Proverbs chapter 10 verses 21 through 24. The book of the prophet Isaiah, chapter 16. They have sent lambs to the ruler of the land, from Sila by the way of the desert to the mount of the daughter of Zion. Like fluttering birds, like scattered nestlings, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon. Give counsel, grant justice, make your shade like night at the fords of the Arnon. Give counsel, grant justice,

make your shade like night at the height of noon. Hide the outcasts, betray not the fugitive. Let the outcasts of Moab sojourn among you. Be a refuge to them from the destroyer. When the oppressor is no more and destruction has ceased and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land, then a throne will be established in steadfast love We have heard of the pride of Moab, how proud he was, of his arrogance, his pride, and his insolence. His boasts are false.

Therefore, let Moab wail. Let everyone wail for Moab. Mourn, utterly stricken, for the raisin cakes of Kir HaRaseth. For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibma. The lords of the nations have struck down its branches, which reached to Jezer and strayed to the desert. Its shoots spread abroad and passed over the sea. Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jezer for the vine of Sibma. I drench you with my tears, O Heshbon and Elieleh, for upon your fruit and your harvest the battle shout has fallen and joy and gladness are taken away from the fruitful field. And in the vineyards, no songs are sung, no shouts are raised, no treader treads out wine in the presses, the vintage shout is hushed.

Therefore, my soul moans like a liar for Moab and my heart for Kir Heres. And when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself upon the high place, when he comes to his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail. This is the word which the Lord spoke concerning Moab in the past. But now, the Lord says, in three years, like the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab will be brought into contempt in spite of all his great multitude, and those who survive will be very few and feeble. Chapter 17. An Oracle Concerning Damascus. An Oracle Concerning Damascus.

Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city, and will become a heap of ruins. Her cities will be deserted forever. They will be for flocks, which will lie down, and none will make them afraid. will be deserted forever. They will be for flocks, which will lie down, and none will make them afraid. The fortress will disappear from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria will be like the glory of the children of Israel, says the Lord of hosts. And in that day, the glory of Jacob will be brought low, and the fat of his flesh will grow lean. And it shall be as when the reaper gathers standing grain, and his arm harvests the ears, and as when one gleans the ears of grain in the valley of Rephaim. Gleanings will be left in it, as when an olive tree is beaten, two or three berries in the top of the highest bough, four or

five on the branches of a fruit tree, says the Lord God of Israel. In that day, men will regard their maker, and their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel. They will not have regard for the altars, the work of their hands, and they will not look to what their own fingers have made, either the asherim or the altars of incense. In that day, their strong cities will be like the deserted places of the Hivites and the Amorites, which they deserted because of the children of Israel, and there will be desolation. For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the rock of your refuge. Therefore, though you plant pleasant plants, and set out slips of an alien God, though you make them grow on the day that you plant them, and make them blossom in the morning that you sow, yet the harvest will flee away in a day of grief and incurable pain. Ah, the thundering of many peoples. They thunder

like the thundering of the sea. Ah, the roar of nations. They roar like the roaring of mighty waters. The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but he will rebuke them and they will flee far away, chased like chaff on the mountains before the wind and whirling dust before the storm. At evening time, behold, terror. Before morning, they are no more. This is the portion of those who despoil us and the lot of those who plunder us. despoil us, and the lot of those who plunder us. The book of Joel, chapter 3. For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will enter into judgment with them there on account of my people and my heritage Israel,

because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land and have cast lots for my people and have given a boy for a harlot and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk it. What are you to me, O Tyre and Sidon, in all the regions of Philistia? Are you paying me back for something? If you are paying me back, I will repay your deed upon your own head swiftly and speedily, for you have taken my silver and my gold and have carried my rich treasures into your temples. You have sold the people of

Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks, removing them far from their own border. But now I will stir them up from the place to which you have sold them, and I will repay your deed upon your own head. I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hand of the sons of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sibians, to a nation far off, for the Lord has spoken. Proclaim this among the nations, prepare war, stir up the mighty men. Let all the Prepare war. O Lord, let the nations bestir themselves and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations round about. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon

are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. And the Lord roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shake. But the Lord is a refuge to his people, a stronghold to the people of Israel. So you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who dwell in Zion my holy mountain, and Jerusalem shall be holy, and strangers shall never again pass through it. And in that day the mountains shall drip sweet wine, and the hills shall flow with milk,

and all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water, and the fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord and all the streambeds of Judah shall flow with water, and the fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord, and water the valley of Shittim. Egypt shall become a desolation, and Edom a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the people of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land. But Judah shall be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem to all generations. I will avenge their blood, and I will not clear the guilty, for the Lord dwells in Zion. The Book of Proverbs, chapter 10, verses 21 through 24.

The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of sense. The blessing of the Lord makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it. It is like sport to a fool to do wrong, but wise conduct is pleasure to a man of understanding. What the wicked dreads will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted. Father in heaven, we give you praise and glory. Thank you so much, God, for your word. We thank you for the prophet Joel, who just was with us only two days. And yet, and yet your prophet Joel not only prophesied that, yes, young men would see

visions and dream dreams, and that's fulfilled in the new covenant. But also he calls us to repentance, just like your prophet Isaiah called the people of Judah and us to repentance as well. Help us to give our hearts to you more fully this day and every day in Jesus name. We pray. Amen. In the name of the father and of the son and of the Holy spirit. Amen. I forgot to mention that.

I think I forgot to mention yesterday that one of the really big deals in the book of the prophet Joel in chapter two is that he says in those days, remember the day of the Lord being a really big deal for Joel? He says, it will come to pass afterward. What will? That I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy. Your old men shall dream dreams. Your young men shall see visions. Even upon men servants and maid servants in those days, I will pour my spirit. This came to pass in the Feast of Pentecost. In fact, Peter is, when he gives the speech on Pentecost and calling people to repentance, he quotes Joel.

He quotes this very verse. And I can't believe that I didn't say that yesterday for crying out loud. What's wrong with this guy? Because it's a big deal. It's a big deal because the day of the Lord not only happened, right? It was the locusts that Joel was using as an image.

And then the armies that were going to invade and mow down and bring God's, not just his justice, but also bring about his invitation, his call back to his heart. But also this day of the Lord that has come in Pentecost and will come ultimately that we heard today in chapter three, which is so incredible for us and so important for us to realize that Joel ends in talking about in that day, what will happen after the day of the Lord, when justice once again reigns, the mountains

shall drip sweet wine, hills flow with milk. Stream beds of Judah shall flow with water. These people, they remember what it was to live past this plague of locusts. They knew what it was to not have wine, to not have milk, that all the animals had died because they didn't have any food. They knew what that was like. And so there was such a, I imagine, a palpable experience of, yes, that kind of desolation. I do not want to go back there. And the consolation that God offers is definitely something that I want. One last thing about Joel I just want to highlight is Joel says something that kind of goes against what we read in Isaiah chapter two, and we can read in Micah, and I think we read in Micah, and for sure we did, that Joel says, take your plowshares and beat them into swords

and take your pruning hooks and beat them into spears and let the weak say, I am a warrior. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, I'm a warrior. Isaiah in chapter two, he said, no, no, no, they're going to beat their swords in the plowshares. They're going to beat their spears into pruning hooks. That's what Micah also says. And here's Joel who says, actually, you need to prepare for war. This is what's going to come. Because we realize that, yes, ultimately in fulfillment, that we're meant to live in peace, not only peace with God, peace with each other, peace within ourselves. But there's also, as the book of Ecclesiastes says, there is a time for war.

And there is this sense that as long as we live in this world that is so brutal, this world that is marked by violence, there are going to be times, and Joel is saying this, there are going to be times when you have to actually take your plowshares and beat them into swords and take your pruning hooks, beat them into spears and say, I'm a warrior. Even the weak, not just the mighty say this, but even the weak will say this. It's not God's plan, right? Remember, the prophet's job is not necessarily to foretell the future, but to foretell, to be able to say, okay, in this moment, this is what you may need to be doing, or in this moment, this is what you need to do. Why? Not because it's the best thing, not because it's God's plan necessarily, but because you might actually need to fight.

You might actually need to take these printing hooks and make them into spears and your plowshares and make them into swords. It's just the price, the cost of living in a world that has been broken, broken by sin. And so, of course, the big call is not necessarily to take up arms against others in physical violence, right? The call for us as Christians is to be able to see the deeper spiritual reality about this, just like we saw the King of Babylon yesterday and how the King of Babylon is a representative, an image of Lucifer. And remember what St. Paul says, our battle is not with flesh and blood, but with principalities and powers, essentially with demons and dark forces that have come against us.

Even that brokenness in ourselves and the brokenness that gets manifested in the world with the, essentially with demons and dark forces that have come against us, even those broken, that brokenness in ourselves and the brokenness that gets manifested in the world. This is still a spiritual battle that every single one of us is in the middle of. So back in Isaiah chapter 16, he can, chapter 16, remember there's an Oracle to Moab and this is what's all going to go down. And that chapter 16 is a continuation of the Oracle to Moab. And this is what's all going to go down. And that chapter 16 is a continuation of the oracle to Moab. That sense of, remember, Moab is now modern day Jordan, right across the Jordan River on the east side of the Holy Land, the Promised Land. And those folks, they had been

enemies of Israel. And so here is God saying, yeah, this is coming to you. In chapter 16 and chapter 17, we have an oracle concerning Damascus. So Syria and that remnant up there, that what's going to happen is they also are going to experience the justice of God. And remember, the justice of God is always oriented towards conversion. It's oriented towards goodness, oriented towards fulfillment. And so even in chapter 17, verse 7, it says, in that day, men will regard their maker. Basically, those people, those pagan people, non-Jewish people, and even those Jews who were living up there in Syria,

in the region of Damascus, they will regard their maker. They'll remember the fact that there is a God in heaven, and their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel. They will realize that, remember, all of this stuff, all this destruction, all the condemnation that is coming upon the people, not just the people of Israel, but the people of the world is meant to get their attention, meant to wake them up. In fact, C.S. Lewis has this quote. He says, we can ignore pleasure. We can ignore God speaking to us in good ways. He says, but pain insists on being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures.

He speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. Pain is God's megaphone to rouse a deaf world. And no doubt, pain as God's megaphone is a terrible instrument. It may lead to final and unrepented rebellion, but it gives the only opportunity for the bad man for amendment. It removes the veil.

It plants the flag of truth within the fortress of the rebel soul. And this is what the prophet Isaiah is saying. That's what C.S. Lewis, a modern day prophet, had said. This is what Isaiah is saying, that God's punishment is always oriented towards turn back to me. So in that day, men will regard their maker. Their eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel, and they will no longer have any regard for their altars, the work of their hands.

It will not look to what their own fingers have made, either the asherim or the altars of incense. In those days, they'll turn back to God because his voice was loud enough in their suffering. The voice was loud. His voice was loud enough in their pain that they could actually listen. And that's my prayer for myself is, God, I don't want to make you bring me pain in order for me to listen. But even in the midst of pain, help me to listen to you, God. And that's a prayer for all of us, right? Is that, no, Lord, yeah, if I can just hear your voice without pain. Awesome. Fantastic. Let me turn to you. Let me repent of whatever I need to repent

of. Let me belong to you fully. But if pain comes along, if suffering comes along, if justice or even just evil that you allow to happen comes along, help me to hear your voice in the midst of that pain. When a storm comes along, Lord, help me to see your voice in the midst of that pain. When a storm comes along, Lord, help me to see your face in the midst of that storm. If tempests can kick up and are threatening to drown me, Lord, help me to have your heart in the midst of that pain. That's our prayer. It's my prayer for you as well. Please pray for each other. I am in need of your prayer too. Just please keep praying for me because this is a great walk, but we're all walking together. And there is something about the fact that every single one of us who's listening to this, every single one of us

is going through something. Every single one of us is facing some kind of battle, is going through something. Every single one of us is facing some kind of battle, some kind of enemy, some kind of obstacle that we can't do on our own. We can't do it on our own. And so we pray for each other. And we stick with it.

And what's going to happen is we're going to see each other soon. Maybe tomorrow. That's what I'm excited for. My name is Father Mike. I can't wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.