You will go to Babylon; there you will be rescued. There the lord will redeem you out of the hand of your enemies. (Micah 4:10 NIV) (Originally written 6-9-2011.)

You will go to Babylon, the place of punishment and despair. (see Psalm 137 on “By the rivers of Babylon.”) The place of discouragement and exile.

Only there can you be rescued. Your past sins required punishment, and more importantly, they had to be purged. God’s love for His people (and for me) was too great fro Him to let them believe they could have victory while harboring sin. So they had to go to Babylon.

But Babylon would not be the place of defeat. It was ultimately the place of victory, of rescue. Never again would idolatry be a problem. There were still plenty of battles to come, but idolatry would not be one of them. It was defeated.

In Babylon. Under a dining room table. (1) In a necessary sabbatical. A time of retreat and pretend-it’s-not-so discouragement. There the defeat and discouragement can be honestly admitted and repented of.

And there God can rescue.

[Father, forgive me for worshipping the idol of success. Help me to love and serve Your people, period.]

(1) I haven’t told that one for a while. Need to work it in again sometime.