Tag: Micah

Links for today’s readings:

May 6  Read: Micah 6 Listen: (2:28) Read: Psalms 86-87 Listen: (2:26)

Scripture Focus: Micah 6:7, 14

Reflection: When God Is Not Swayed by Gold

By Erin Newton

Expensive gifts are common throughout the Bible. The magi brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh to the infant Jesus. The woman poured an expensive jar of oil on Jesus’s feet. The queen of Sheba brought gold, precious gems, and spices to Solomon as a gift.

Is it the financial worth of gifts that determines their value? Sometimes. For gifts exchanged between loved ones, however, the value is something that transcends cost. And so it is with God.

Micah 6 contains the well-known verses about offering gifts to God. “With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God?,” verse 6 says. The question is rhetorical and introspective. What does God really want from us?

The assumed answer is “expensive things.” Micah’s audience is thinking like common people. We love stuff. We love costly stuff. We value that which is rare and available only to a few—the expensive stuff. Surely, we think, God wants expensive stuff too.

But the verse turns in an unexpected way. “Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?” This is generational wealth amounts! This is more stuff than any person would know what to do with. Where do you store rivers of oil? Are you ready for herds and herds of rams (or are you going to eat a thousand rams for dinner)?

 No, God doesn’t really want any of this. Micah tells the people that God wants them to be merciful, just, and humble. God desires character over wealth, morality over treasure, righteousness over buyouts.

It’s not that gold is inherently problematic. Gold has been an honored gift to God, but gold offered without integrity and faithfulness is worthless. Such wealth is destined for ruin.

Do I have herds of livestock? No. Do I even know how many crates of olive oil a person can buy at Costco? Not a clue. I might read this and think I’ve been spared from acting like Micah’s community did. I’m not trying to buy God’s favor. Whew!

Yet we offer God paltry gifts of fancy words, our best dress on Sunday, and maybe a portion of our income in tithes. For many, these are worth more than we give anyone else. But without integrity and true faithfulness in how we conduct our lives, I’m afraid we too will be left with empty stomachs and war-torn losses.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting

Splendor and honor and kingly power are yours by right, O Lord our God,
For you created everything that is, and by your will they were created and have thor being. — A Song To The Lamb

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Leaders Sent by God

Our justice is tainted. Our mercy is rarely given. Our humility gives way to pride. Therefore, God has offered his own firstborn for the sin of our souls.

Leaders Sent by God

Read more: State of Our Souls

We pray for an undivided heart. No person, cause, or ideology should vie for the supremacy of Christ in our lives.

State of Our Souls

Links for today’s readings:

May 5  Read: Micah 5 Listen: (2:21) Read: Psalm 85 Listen: (1:25)

Scripture Focus: Micah 5.2-5

Reflection: Missing the Kingdom for the Empire

By John Tillman

In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke sought Yoda’s aid to complete his Jedi training and defeat the Empire. Yoda tested Luke with a bizarre performance as a childish, foolish creature. Luke was seeking a great warrior. Yoda replied, “Wars not make one great.”

Yoda was the great leader and master Luke sought. But his greatness was for a time hidden. His strength was reduced by feigned weakness. His wisdom was concealed in foolishness. His greatness was masked by small stature, great age, and social awkwardness. (Luke’s greatness was also concealed from Yoda, but that’s another analogy…)

Assyria was the first empire. An empire’s purpose is to spread its own (alleged) greatness to the ends of the earth (or the galaxy). Empires spread by war, brutality, and violence, but also by oppression, economic corruption, and worship of the emperor.

Micah told Israel that their leaders would be struck down. Micah also described a future ruler from ancient times who would oppose the empire. This ruler would be unexpected and counterintuitive.

He would come from an unimportant city and clan. He would be like a shepherd, not like a king or a commander. His greatness would reach the ends of the earth, but not by violent conquest. This leader’s followers would be “in the midst of many peoples” and “among the nations.” They will not “depend on a man” and would have peace even when armies marched over their borders.

Jesus was and is this unexpected ruler. The religious leaders of Jesus’ day looked for this leader to help them defeat the Roman Empire, but Jesus knew that war would not make him great. At least, not that kind of war. His greatness and his kingdom lay on the path to the cross, through the grave, and beyond.

Jesus’ glory, strength, and wisdom were concealed for a time. To the wise, he seemed foolish. To the strong, he seemed weak. To the powerful, he seemed unimportant. (1 Cor 1.18-25) Yet, this ruler brings down every empire, beginning with the empires of sin and death.

Don’t judge the religious leaders too harshly. We, too, can miss Jesus’ kingdom when looking for Empire-like solutions to our problems. Jesus’ kingdom is the anti-Empire, he is the anti-Emperor, and every aspiring emperor is an anti-Christ. Complete your training by following the way of Jesus. We defeat empires in counterintuitive ways, beginning with the empire in our own hearts.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

May God be merciful to us and bless us,* show us the light of his countenance and come to us. Let your ways be known upon earth,* your saving health among all nations. — Psalm 67:1–2

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Representative Combat

When Elon Musk challenged Putin to a fight over Ukraine, few thought, “That’s a good idea.”

Representative Combat

Read more: The Cultivating Life

Cultivation is not an out-of-the-box, pre-prepared spiritual solution. It’s customized to our culture and our climate.

The Cultivating Life

Links for today’s readings:

May 4  Read: Micah 4 Listen: (2:33) Read: Psalms 83-84 Listen: (3:20)

Scripture Focus: Micah 4.1-4

Reflection: Confrontation and Hope

By John Tillman

Today’s passage is one of Micah’s most hope-filled.

Micah and Isaiah were contemporaries, using similar imagery and language. It makes sense that God spoke similar things to prophets speaking in the same time period.

Micah saw his nation slipping down a rebellious path to war and destruction. He saw systematic corruption and oppression of the poor, the idolatry and hypocrisy of false worship, and the misuse and misrepresentation of God’s name.

Both prophets delivered unflinching messages about coming judgments for sin. They warned of war, destruction, death, slavery, and exile. However, every warning of woe held a promise of hope.

Micah and Isaiah both proclaimed that the mountain of the Lord, where the temple stood, would become the highest mountain and Jerusalem would be like the garden of Eden. All peoples and nations would stream up the mountain to worship God.

Micah and Isaiah were also very different. Isaiah was an insider. Micah was an outsider. Isaiah was powerful, frequented the palace, and personally knew and spoke to kings, leaders, and high officials. Micah was from a rural area of Judah with no powerful connections other than the God in whose name he spoke.

Both the kings and the citizens needed to be confronted with the realities of their sins. They also needed to know the hope God had planned for them. Prophets don’t flinch from either confrontation or hope.

We need prophets from different perspectives, like Isaiah and Micah. Those close to the powerful must hold them to account. Those close to the oppressed must speak from their perspective. Too often, those in halls of power are corrupted by that power rather than confronting its sins. And too often those speaking for the oppressed forget that the oppressed also need repentance. And everyone needs hope.

Where has God placed you? Are you a powerful insider or an oppressed outsider? Most of us are somewhere in between. No matter where you are, you must both confront and inspire. 

We need both truthful confrontation and hopeful exhortation to overcome the gravity of sin pulling us down. Only then can we “stream” upward to the city of God and seek him in its temple. (Micah 4.1)

The gospel is good news about bad news. The bad news is the destiny sin has earned us. The good news is the destiny Jesus won for us. The gospel dies without truth and hope. Share both.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

God looks down from heaven upon us all, to see if there is any who is wise, if there is one who seeks after God. — Psalm 53.2

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: A Hill That Defeated the Mountains

We have competing “divine mountains” …trying to “downgrade” the way of Jesus…loving God, neighbor, and enemy is a nice “hill,” but we need a mountain.

A Hill That Defeated the Mountains

Read more: The Mountain of the Lord

Let our gravity be changed. Let every other “mountain” in our lives, by faith, be cast into the sea as we are drawn up.

The Mountain of the Lord

Links for today’s readings:

May 1 Read: Micah 1 Listen: (2:46)  Read: Psalm 79 Listen: (1:50)
May 2 Read: Micah 2 Listen: (2:11) Read: Psalm 80 Listen: (1:58)
May 3 Read: Micah 3 Listen: (1:51) Read: Psalms 81-82 Listen: (2:36)

Scripture Focus: Micah 1.1-2, 8-9

1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. 
2 Hear, you peoples, all of you, 
listen, earth and all who live in it, 
that the Sovereign Lord may bear witness against you, 
the Lord from his holy temple. 

8 Because of this I will weep and wail; 
I will go about barefoot and naked. 
I will howl like a jackal 
and moan like an owl. 
9 For Samaria’s plague is incurable; 
it has spread to Judah. 
It has reached the very gate of my people, 
even to Jerusalem itself.

Reflection: Everyone

By John Tillman

In the 1994 film, The Professional, Gary Oldman delivered a one-word line that became legendary. Oldman’s character tells a man near him, “Bring me everyone.” The henchman replies with a questioning tone, “Everyone?” Oldman explodes, screaming, “EVERYONE!”

Screaming the line was intended as a joke to make the director laugh. But the director, Luc Besson, used the screamed version in the film. To this day, fans will shout “EVERYONE” to Oldman when they see him.

Micah, the prophet, had dire warnings from the Lord. If you asked him who they were for, he might reply, “EVERYONE!” They are for Samaria, Judah, and all the peoples of the earth. Micah starts with Samaria, but in the course of his message, he will leave no one out. 

Like the lines in a film script, we read the prophets’ words but must imagine their inflections and voices. When we read condemnatory passages, we might imagine shouts like Gary Oldman’s “Everyone!” And we might be right. When we read other passages, we might hear sarcasm, bitter irony, or an insulting sneer.

Prophets say angry, critical words and do strange and offensive things, like Isaiah and Micah walking around naked. (Isaiah 20.2-4; Micah 1.8) Today, we call people like that angry extremists.  Many people dismiss such critics as “hateful” or “deranged.” This would sound familiar to biblical prophets. John the Baptizer was called demon-possessed. Jesus was called a drunkard. (Luke 7.33-35) Elijah was called a “troubler of Israel.” (1 Kings 18.7) This doesn’t, however, mean every kook is a prophet.

Angry prophets, like the God they speak for, are driven by love, not hate. Anger against corruption is not hatred of country; it is love for country. Anger against oppressors is love for the oppressed. Anger against false gods is love for the true God. We see this in Micah’s mourning. He weeps. He wails. He denies himself clothing to take on shame. These are acts of love. The Holy Spirit has gifted some to be prophets. But some prophetic responsibilities are for “everyone.” Yes, everyone.

Don’t be ashamed to weep and wail at injustice, harm, and oppression. Don’t be ashamed of making others uncomfortable so long as you are telling the truth.

Don’t be ashamed of making good trouble. Don’t be ashamed to call everyone to repentance. Don’t be ashamed to tell everyone about God’s love.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Call to Prayer

Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the whole earth. — Psalm 96.1

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Wail-Patterned Baldness

God told them to do the unthinkable—shave their heads in mourning—an act specifically prohibited.

Wail-Patterned Baldness

Read more: When Temples Fall

Is there anything labeled “Christian” that you trust to save you? Jesus will purge our unrighteous temples, whatever they are.

When Temples Fall

Scripture Focus: Micah 7.3-4, 18-20
3 Both hands are skilled in doing evil; 
the ruler demands gifts, 
the judge accepts bribes, 
the powerful dictate what they desire— 
they all conspire together. 
4 The best of them is like a brier, 
the most upright worse than a thorn hedge. 

18 Who is a God like you, 
who pardons sin and forgives the transgression 
of the remnant of his inheritance? 
You do not stay angry forever 
but delight to show mercy. 
19 You will again have compassion on us; 
you will tread our sins underfoot 
and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea. 
20 You will be faithful to Jacob, 
and show love to Abraham, 
as you pledged on oath to our ancestors 
in days long ago. 

Originally published on May 7, 2024, based on readings from Micah 7.3-4, 18-20.

Readers’ Choice is here: There’s still time to tell us about your favorite, most meaningful posts of the year. If you shared it with someone, or it helped you, let us know via email, direct message, or filling out the linked form.

Music Week: Many choices from readers were ones having to do with music. Some were inspired by a song or hymn, some simply included music as part of the reflection experience. This week, we pray the Holy Spirit’s tune echoes in your heart and that he guides you into Truth as you listen again to these earthly tunes.

Readers’ Choice posts are selected by our readers:
Barbara, TN — Amen and amen!!  We know so many people suffering such deep wounding and are praying with and for them and ourselves.

Brian, DC — “Thanks for this reflection. AMEN AMEN AMEN!”

Reflection: Equally Skilled Hands — Readers’ Choice
By John Tillman

Micah’s concluding trio of poetic sections are tinged with lament because disaster and destruction are coming, but they all have a taste of hope. Micah sees beyond the deserved punishment in the present to the undeserved restoration in the future. The section that is heaviest with lament is the first. 

In most individuals, one hand is more skilled than the other. Scripture notes several times the left-handed and ambidextrous skills of Benjamite warriors. (Judges 3.15, 20.16; 1 Chronicles 12.1-2) Micah says both hands of his nation and their leaders are equally skilled at wickedness. The righteous have been swept away—like harvested fields, where only bare vines remain. The country sprouts with rulers, judges, and the wealthy and powerful, who are like briers or thorns. There is no grain, grapes, or figs, only grift, bribery, conspiracy, and betrayal. Yet, God is the focus of Micah’s hope.

The second section is a confession with confidence in restoration, spoken in the voice of Israel. “I have fallen,” Israel says, “but I will rise” because “the Lord will be my light.” There is darkness now, but light is coming. Micah warns Israel’s enemies not to gloat because one day, the Lord will remove Israel’s shame, and her enemies will face their own downfall.

The concluding psalm overflows with praise, fueled by God’s faithfulness. Based on God’s nature, not their worthiness, God’s flock will be cared for, guided, and blessed. The good shepherd will defend his flock and put an end to evil, crushing sin like a snake underfoot. Wickedness will drown in the depths and righteousness rise to the heights.

Micah looked around his world, nation, and city and saw chaos, corruption, and coming catastrophe. So might we. We may see left and right hands equally skilled in wickedness in our world, nations, and cities. Powerful rulers, judges, and leaders dictate what they desire, take bribes, and demand loyalty. Our neighbors, communities, and even family members may treat us like enemies.

Let us hope not in the left or right hands of leaders but in the nail-pierced hands of Christ. Jesus is the snake-crushing, lost sheep-seeking, wounded sheep-healing, banquet before our enemies-providing shepherd of our souls. (Psalm 23) His skilled hands hold healing, hope, justice, and peace. Let us take his hand and follow him, extending our other hand to the world. The only source of hope is in his hands.

Music: Jon Foreman – “Equally Skilled”

From John: The Divine Hours prayers will return in October. This month we will pray one scripture passage or verse each week.

Prayer:
Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.
For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods.
 — Psalm 95.1-3

​Today’s Readings
Jeremiah 35 (Listen 3:43)
1 Corinthians 11 (Listen 4:20)

Read more about Second Chances Blown
The most dreadful judgment of God is when he lets us burn in the fires of our own prideful self-confidence.

Second Chances Blown

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