I was in the car taking Addy to school earlier this week. My mind was weighed down with grief. Death seemed everywhere. I was fearful to answer the phone. The last call was from a good friend whose brother had died. Funerals would be the fixtures of the coming week or so. Addy was playing music, which I didn’t know, but then I told her, “Play Shaboozey, I need some good news.” A few seconds later, the familiar lyrics were playing.
Man, what a hell of a year it's been
Keep on bluffin', but I just can't win
Drowned my sorrow, but they learn to swim.
Then he goes through the ways and places we go to numb or eradicate pain, when the brokenness of the world washes over you. Then the chorus,
I need some good news!
That sounds about right for the week and also for where we find ourselves in Micah. For four weeks, we have seen oracle after oracle of judgment falling on God’s people, broken by their own sin and rebellion, and then suddenly out of nowhere we come to a glorious vision—Good news, for a people drowning in sorrow because their God-appointed leaders are leading them into exile.
It is good news, it is water in a desert, manna in the wilderness, hope in a wasteland. It really is a practical, pastoral word to hurting people. There is a lot there. I hope you will join us Sunday as we hear, no wallow in good news!
