Observation: The prophet rails against those who "build a town by bloodshed" and promises that someday soon the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, "as the water's cover the sea." Though this may seem to be a good thing, here it reads as a warning. If you really want to know what God is like and what God thinks, get ready to be held accountable for an awful lot of violence and injustice, both to humans, animals, and the earth itself.
Application: I think of the community where I live as pretty peaceful. There's a relatively low crime rate compared to other places. But just because you can't see violence doesn't mean it's not there. Monday is Indigenous People's Day. It's a day to remember that I live on what was once Obijwe and Potawatomi land. How to make peace with that in the present day, I'm not sure, except to acknowledge it and learn about it, so I can stand up against similar exploitation in the future. It's also a good time to remember that violence against animals and the land itself is equally abhorrent to God as violence against people. From the prophet today, I learn that violence we're used to, or used to ignoring, is violence all the same.
Prayer: Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. May that peace begin with honesty and inward repentance.
Amen.
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