The Kingdom Shall Be The Lord's

Reading Obadiah. I heard from someone...I think it was Mrs. Ilene that you should read the historical parts of the Bible as if God is talking directly to you. It seems less like a history lesson that way. So I tried doing that with the book of Obadiah.

1 The vision of Obadiah.
This is what the Sovereign LORD says about Edom—
We have heard a message from the LORD :
An envoy was sent to the nations to say,
"Rise, and let us go against her for battle"-

2 "See, I will make you small among the nations;
you will be utterly despised.

3 The pride of your heart has deceived you,
you who live in the clefts of the rocks
and make your home on the heights,
you who say to yourself,
'Who can bring me down to the ground?'

4 Though you soar like the eagle
and make your nest among the stars,
from there I will bring you down,"
declares the LORD.

5 "If thieves came to you,
if robbers in the night—
Oh, what a disaster awaits you—
would they not steal only as much as they wanted?
If grape pickers came to you,
would they not leave a few grapes?

6 But how Esau will be ransacked,
his hidden treasures pillaged!

7 All your allies will force you to the border;
your friends will deceive and overpower you;
those who eat your bread will set a trap for you,
but you will not detect it.

8 "In that day," declares the LORD,
"will I not destroy the wise men of Edom,
men of understanding in the mountains of Esau?

9 Your warriors, O Teman, will be terrified,
and everyone in Esau's mountains
will be cut down in the slaughter.

10 Because of the violence against your brother Jacob,
you will be covered with shame;
you will be destroyed forever.

11 On the day you stood aloof
while strangers carried off his wealth
and foreigners entered his gates
and cast lots for Jerusalem,
you were like one of them.

12 You should not look down on your brother
in the day of his misfortune,
nor rejoice over the people of Judah
in the day of their destruction,
nor boast so much
in the day of their trouble.

13 You should not march through the gates of my people
in the day of their disaster,
nor look down on them in their calamity
in the day of their disaster,
nor seize their wealth
in the day of their disaster.

14 You should not wait at the crossroads
to cut down their fugitives,
nor hand over their survivors
in the day of their trouble.

15 "The day of the LORD is near
for all nations.
As you have done, it will be done to you;
your deeds will return upon your own head.

16 Just as you drank on my holy hill,
so all the nations will drink continually;
they will drink and drink
and be as if they had never been.

17 But on Mount Zion will be deliverance;
it will be holy,
and the house of Jacob
will possess its inheritance.

18 The house of Jacob will be a fire
and the house of Joseph a flame;
the house of Esau will be stubble,
and they will set it on fire and consume it.
There will be no survivors
from the house of Esau."
The LORD has spoken.

19 People from the Negev will occupy
the mountains of Esau,
and people from the foothills will possess
the land of the Philistines.
They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria,
and Benjamin will possess Gilead.

20 This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canaan
will possess the land as far as Zarephath;
the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
will possess the towns of the Negev.

21 Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion
to govern the mountains of Esau.
And the kingdom will be the LORD's.

Basically, I figure this passage means that you should not be evil because evil will be brought down. The verses that stuck out the most to me were 3 and 4. I have a pride issue, and God's been telling me lately that I nothing to be proud about. And I know all the facts of why that's true, but my human nature takes on the "I'm Man and I'm smart and yeah God made me but I can do things on my own. I can live without Him" attitude. Geez, thank God for Jesus. I need to be reminded that living without Him gets me into MESS (refer to "The Battle" blog for background information xD).

From this passage it's cool to see that in the end, good is victorious. Esau is robbed unnecessarily, lol, and stabbed in the back by people he trusted (verses 5&6, 7, respectively). He's warned though (verses 12-15). God makes it mad clear; do not act as if you are above everyone else and do not be cruel to those whom you think are below. Because these very same nations will "drink continually" (verse 16). In verse 18, the house of Jacob and Joseph become flames, and Esau is reduced to stubble. Stubble is defined by The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition as

The short, stiff stalks of grain or hay remaining on a field after harvesting.

Esau was reduced to left overs! Ouchies. Plus, it was set on fire (verse 18). This "great" nation was left to burn by the very nations that they looked down upon. No survivors. And the land that Esau occupied was given over to God's people. Wow, mess with God's people and get ready to feel the fire. Aigh, so glad I'm a daughter of God. But I hope I don't get into that safe mentality where I'm like "Yes, I am a child of God and I am going to Heaven!" but then I stop there, you know? Like, I don't want to keep God to myself, I wanna share. I'm supposed to share. So God, I pray that you will bless me greatly with the gift of evangelism. You are too good and too great to not know, and though I do not completely understand You, the people of this world need to know that You are God and give their lives over to You. May Your will be done Lord. In Christ's name I pray, Amen.