41 Micah

Micah, was a country boy, who saw what was going on in the big city, and directed much of his prophecy toward the powerful leaders of Samaria and Jerusalem, the capital cities of Israel - who were in the north, and Judah - who was in the south of Israel. Now, let me give you a comparison to the size of Isreal. With us here in Nova Scotia. and Israel.. well its amazing how this tiny little place holds its ground. That is because its God’s country and he won't let anything happen to them, seriously think about it. Israel is 470 km long and 135 kms wide.. Now Nova Scotia is 580 km long and no more than 130 kms wide.. So Nova Scotia is bigger than Isreal and look at all that is happening in that part of the world. amazes me really..

With Micah, Most of what his story revolves around is two things. One, the judgment of Israel and Judah, and then the restoration of God’s people in the millennial kingdom. He tells them, come on.. get with the program, and if you do.. there is hope.. big time. He explains to them God’s good works on their behalf, how He cared for them while they only cared for themselves. He goes on to tell them that rather than leave God’s people in fear and with the sting of judgment for how they have been, he concludes that the Lord is the only source of salvation and mercy on us little no goods. This points people towards an everlasting hope in their everlasting God. Its all good I tell ya.

Reading the book of Micah, is amazing when you think about it and read it. The book of Micah provides one of the most significant prophecies of Jesus Christ’s birth in all the Old Testament, pointing some seven hundred years before Christ’s birth to His birthplace of Bethlehem and to His eternal nature. Surrounding Micah’s prophecy of Jesus’s birth is one of the most straight forward pictures of the world’s future under the reign of the Prince of Peace. This future kingdom, which we call the millennial kingdom, will be characterized by the presence of many nations living with one another in peace and security and coming to Jerusalem to worship the reigning king, that is, Jesus Himself. Because these events have not yet occurred, we look forward to the millennial kingdom at some undetermined time in the future. It will come, and it will be a great time for all us believers!!

Most of Micahs prophecy involves injustice toward the ordinary people of that time —unjust business dealings, robbery, mistreatment of women and children, and a government that lived in luxury off the hard work of its nation’s people. (Sound familiar? Still going on today) So where does the injustice dwell in your own life? Who are the ordinary or plain ol people in your life? Do you need a call toward repentance, like the people of Israel and Judah did? We all do. Micah’s impassioned plea for God’s chosen people to repent will cut many of us to the quick. Most of us don’t decide daily to cut people down or find ways to carry out injustice. Instead, we do it out of habit. Let’s allow the words of Micah to break us out of our lack of concern about extending justice and kindness to others and press on toward a world that better resembles the harmonious millennial kingdom to come. Let’s determine to live as God desires— “to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with our God” I pray for this.