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The beginning of each month, a new week and a new day brings me the task of making a new list. Each morning I break down my monthly or weekly list into what is required of me for the day. Of course on the top of today’s list was to write this Bible Journal Post. On the days that I do not make my list I am way less productive. I flounder about and procrastinate because I do not require anything of myself. I will be honest and say that I have more days of floundering than I would like. When I know the requirements of my day I am much more productive and in turn have a profound sense of accomplishment when I lay my head on my pillow at night.

Today in Micah 6 we read about the requirements that God gives to His people. A small list of 3 things He wants from them.

Mankind, he has told each of you what is good and what it is the Lord requires of you: to act justly, to love faithfulness, and to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

This chapter begins with God getting the Israelites attention. He wants them to listen. We have seen in the previous 5 chapters that Micah speaks of all of the sins of Israel…fraud, theft, greed, debauchery, oppression, hypocrisy, heresy, injustice, extortion, lying, murder and many others. The Israelites had turned away from God and forgot about their personal relationship with Him.

We see in verses 6 and 7 that the people may actually be listening so they focus on what they can offer to God as offerings for their sin against him.

What should I bring before the Lord when I come to bow before God on high? Should I come before him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams or ten thousand streams of oil? Should I give my firstborn for my transgression, the offspring of my body for my own sin?
Micah 6:6-7

Micah responds to this in verse 8 (above), “He has told each of you what is good and what it is that the Lord requires of you.” God did not want their offerings, he wanted their hearts. So he gave them His 3 requirements:

1) To act justly – this means to live with a sense of right and wrong, to live a life of integrity. God wanted them to remove unjust thoughts and actions in their lives. He urges them to help the poor and those who have been attacked by injustice.

2) Love mercy – to freely and willingly show kindness to others. To give freely without expecting anything in return. Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice of God’s mercy.

3) Walk humbly with Him – God wants to walk with us. He wants to be in constant communication with us. To be connected to Him we have to be in His Word, praying to Him and worshipping Him continuously.

Are we any different than the Israelites? Our sins may look different in today’s times, but they are the same sins as days of the past…fraud, theft, greed, debauchery, oppression, hypocrisy, heresy, injustice, extortion, lying, murder and many others. Micah’s message is just as relevant to us. God wants our hearts more than he wants our gifts or offerings.

Perhaps I need to add these three requirements to the top of my daily lists. Actually, I DO need to be daily reminded of what the Lord requires of me above all else. He wants my heart. He wants me to act justly. He wants me to love mercy. And He wants me to walk humbly with Him.

Today’s reading is on Micah 5.

When Micah was given the word of the Lord on the events of this book, things must have looked pretty frightening for the future from Judah’s perspective: kingdoms falling around them under siege, countless war-torn refugees seeking help, the disintegration of social structure and increased assimilation of idolatry & selfishness. Unfortunately human nature has remained pretty constant and these issues can still be found the world over. That’s why Micah 5:3-5 is a timeless reminder that reliance on God is guaranteed to outlast and overpower any hope in the works of man: 

“He shall give them up until the time the she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. 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.”

It can be easy to try to rely on our own means when sin slips in and our faith grows weak, which is why this chapter continues to assure us that all the works of man will be cut down alongside the wicked; the horses & chariots of war, the cities & strongholds we build for protection, and the sorceries and idols born of evil. But the people of Israel, in God’s kingdom, will be lifted up and find peace with Him. I sometimes wonder if I focus too much on the bad of the works of man; which can be way too easy, with a hyper-connected society constantly blasting news of war, crises, disease, and hopelessness in our faces. It’s not a stretch to imagine people without hope beyond these things clinging to the works of man for a future.

Thankfully, we know our future is guaranteed in Christ (Jeremiah 29:11), and we can find hope in clinging to Him. Do you place your hopes too often in the things of man that can be easily corrupted with sin? Or do you surrender all to God, who delivers & protects the besieged and unfairly judged? I pray for the future of all, that they may seek the refuge and hope for the future only found in God’s kingdom, and that all the remnant of Jacob among all nations as Micah 5:8 puts it, that we could lead others to see God’s kingdom not as a source of adversary or destruction through the eyes of a sinner, but as a source of blessing of a child of God’s.

A few days ago I read through my assigned Bible Journal Post for today, Micah chapter 3. To say I had no idea what I would write about is an understatement. Just look at how the chapter begins:

You hate good and love evil. You tear off people’s skin and strip their flesh from their bones. You eat the flesh of my people after you strip their skin from them and break their bones. You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a cauldron.”
Micah 3:2-3

In these first verses Micah (a prophet of the Lord) uses very graphic language to describe the destruction that Israel’s leaders have caused on God’s people. Micah uses terms that describe cannibalism, although he is not saying these people were cannibals. They treated the people so unfairly that they destroyed them in a similar way. These leaders practiced injustice in their leadership, and betrayed the trust put into them to lead the people. Micah states that these leaders, “hate good and love evil.”

God gave Micah the job of telling the prophets of the day what God really thought of them.

This is what the Lord says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who proclaim peace when they have food to sink their teeth into but declare war against the one who puts nothing in their mouths.
Micah 3:5

Micah goes on to speak to the nation’s leaders.

Listen to this, leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert everything that is right, who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with injustice. Her leaders issue rulings for a bribe, her priests teach for payment, and her prophets practice divination for silver. Yet they lean on the Lord, saying, “Isn’t the Lord among us? No disaster will overtake us.”
Micah 3:9-11

These leaders were disobeying God with their actions, but they still say that “no disaster will overtake us.” Sin had become so common among them that they assumed God would be ok with it too. They believed that at the end of the day they would be ok.

But Micah is bold in his statement in verse 12. His message would have sounded outrageous to all who heard him speak.

Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become ruins, and the temple’s mountain will be a high thicket.
Micah 3:12

What does it mean that “Zion would be plowed like a field?” Zion would be cut up and broken apart. Micah proclaims to them that because of their sin, destruction wiould come.

The Holy Spirit empowered Micah to speak the truth.

As for me, however, I am filled with power by the Spirit of the Lord, with justice and courage, to proclaim to Jacob his rebellion and to Israel his sin.
Micah 3:8

Micah was bold enough to follow through and speak up. We have to remember that we have the gift of the same Holy Spirit that Micah had. We need to speak the truth in love and be bold like Micah was. God wants us to proclaim His truth to the people we encounter.

Will we be as bold as Micah?

What if there were no boundaries to making decisions and right and wrong did not exist?  Where does morality and right and wrong come from?  How do we as humans know what the right decision is to make?  What is our foundation for making decisions, from the small daily things to the larger major ones?

Micah 1:1-16 demonstrates that God made clear his expectation of the Israelites, and time and time again, they strayed.  God was patient.  God provided prophets to speak to the leaders of Israel, guiding them and counseling them.  Micah wrote in this chapter in verse 8, “Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked; I will make a wailing like the jackals and a mourning like the ostriches, For her wounds are incurable. For it has come to Judah; It has come to the gate of My people – To Jerusalem.” Sounds harsh but God was sending a message.

Unfortunately, we as humans are sinful and stray from God’s commands due to the temptations of the world, just like the Israelites did throughout the Bible.  The decisions we make ultimately will have consequences in the eyes of the Lord.  The Lord is watching each of our decisions, many times influencing and guiding us, but ultimately leaving us to make our own choices.

We read about the demise of people every day in the news.  Celebrities, athletes, politicians, and the list goes on.  From the outside, we view someone’s life and think they have everything!  They are rich, with the handsome husband, pretty wife, the nice cars, beautiful house, and deep down, we may want to be like them.  Their life looks fabulous!

Ultimately, power, money and fame can corrupt a person.  We can lose sight of thankfulness, appreciation, and what is important in our lives. We can become selfish and dismissive of what is important and become focused on ourselves rather than others.  There are very few who reach the pinnacles of success and fame that “come out on the other side” with their lives, family, and faith intact.

God is clear in the Bible about His desire for us to follow His commandments and Gospel.   He demonstrated His love for the Israelites time and time again, but He also demonstrated His willingness to punish them for their sins and misdeeds.

Life without discipline and direction leads to poor decisions because we as humans are incapable of making consistently good choices. Sometimes it takes the hard lessons and bad situations to help us appreciate what is important.

Romans 2:11-13 says 11 For there is no partiality with God. 12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the laws will be judged by the law. 13 for not the hearers of the laws are just in the sight of God but the doers of the law will be justified.

Today’s reading:  Amos 7

Have you ever heard the saying, “never let the truth get in the way of a good story”?  It is election season, and I contend a lot of politicians subscribe to this theory.  Most of them don’t really intend to be untruthful, but often they are quick to omit or exaggerate details in order to make a story better or more impactful than it would otherwise be.

As you know from our study over the last few days, Amos was a humble shepherd.  He was not from the lineage of prophets or priests, but God used him as a messenger to warn the Israelites about their impending judgment.  Eventually, however, Amos’ message of God’s truth got in the way of someone else’s good story.

In chapter 7, we are introduced to Amaziah, the chief priest.  Although Amaziah held a position of influence in Israel’s religious community,  maintaining his position was more important to him than listening to God’s truth and doing what was right.  Because Amaziah was threatened by Amos’ message of God’s judgment, he tried to chase Amos away.

Then Amaziah said to Amos, “Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there” (Amos 7:12).

While Amos didn’t waver from speaking God’s message of truth, Amaziah’s self-centered behavior cost him his land, his family, and ultimately his own life.

Do you know anyone like this?  Someone who prioritizes their position at work, in the community, or even in the church ahead of telling the truth and helping others?  I do.  This behavior is rampant in 21st Century America.  In fact, I would say it is something that most everyone struggles with at one time or another.  Today, let us walk away from Amos 7 with this clear message:

God is serious about truth telling.  Don’t let prestige, authority or money get in the way of speaking the truth and doing what is right.  The stakes are too high.