READ Micah 5–7
While the media is not prone to publishing good news, some days I wonder if there is any. People send clips of government corruption and political exploitation. Ordinary advertising is filled with promises that appeal to human comfort and vanity to the point of ridiculousness. Where is integrity and compassion? Stirring up trouble is far more popular than kindness or peace-making. Seeing a soccer player shake an opponent’s hand after a game has become a rare gesture when it used to be the norm.
Micah’s language is almost foreign, yet a few passages stand out that offer hope and instruction for OT times and for today’s messy world. They experienced corruption and turned from God, just as many do today, yet the promise of salvation is for them and for us:
And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. And he shall be their peace. When the Assyrian comes into our land and treads in our palaces, then we will raise against him . . . (Micah 5:4–5)
Like many prophecies, this one has an immediate fulfillment yet points ahead hinting a Messiah who will eventually rule, bringing security and peace. When listening to all the bad news, I remember that Jesus is coming back, and He will be “great to the ends of the earth.”
In those OT days, God asked His rebellious people what He had done to warrant their rejection. He had delivered them from bondage and from their enemies, and given them good leaders and laws for life. They responded well at times, yet their offerings and sacrifices became mere ritual rather than heart-felt worship and obedience. Micah wrote:
With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (6:6–8)
Such simple instructions, yet God’s people had become unjust, without compassion, proud and anything but contrite in the privileges God had given them. His response to their sinfulness:
Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow, making you desolate because of your sins. You shall eat, but not be satisfied, and there shall be hunger within you; you shall put away, but not preserve, and what you preserve I will give to the sword. You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine. For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels, that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing; so you shall bear the scorn of my people.” (6:13–16)
Micah’s words often sound as if he is living in our time. However, he determines that no matter what others do, he will follow the Lord:
The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net. Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together. The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand. Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms; for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. (7:2–7)
His prayer is also my prayer: “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will show faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.” (7:18–20)
Today I will remember and dwell upon the goodness of God, even though most of what I’m hearing in the media is about the failure of humanity.