Because of you, Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field;
Jerusalem will be reduced to ruins!
A thicket will grow on the heights
where the Temple now stands.
Micah 3:12
It does not take an advanced theological degree to understand Micah’s audience was in trouble with God. The verse above, and in fact the entire first three chapters of the prophet’s words written to Judah on God’s behalf, make it pretty darn clear. God had asked for what he needed from this nation to maintain a healthy relationship and they failed to deliver. What makes it even worse is the northern kingdom of Israel had just made the same disobedient mistakes and they failed to learn. Oops!
Life is full of choices. We face them constantly. The simple reality is some lead to life, and others lead to what feels like life for a while but something else entirely when we make our way down the path.
Micah spoke out because Israel’s southern kingdom of Judah had been walking down the path and God was not having it.
What are the choices they had been making? The list in the text is long. The first couple of verses of chapter two give us a pretty good glimpse …
What sorrow awaits you who lie awake at night,
thinking up evil plans.
You rise at dawn and hurry to carry them out,
simply because you have the power to do so.
When you want a piece of land,
you find a way to seize it.
When you want someone’s house,
you take it by fraud and violence.
You cheat a man of his property,
stealing his family’s inheritance.
Micah 2:1-2
Taking advantage of and oppressing people God himself created is not to be tolerated in God’s kingdom. God makes it obvious. Yet, they continue to test his patience and eventually they find themselves in exile … the natural consequence of their actions.
All of this points to the fact that we worship a God who loves us enough to not just give us what we want, but what we need. The reality is there is no better teacher than pain. At times, pain is the only language we will wake up and listen to. God does not cause all the pain to happen in our world, but for some crazy reason, he allows it.
What we long for in our own pain often is an answer to the question, “Why?” We do not always get the why. What we get is instead what God will do about it. The good news is God has chosen to do something about our pain. He offers hope to Judah …
“Someday, O Israel, I will gather you;
I will gather the remnant who are left.
I will bring you together again like sheep in a pen,
like a flock in its pasture.”
Micah 2:12
And he offers hope to us today. It is why he sent Jesus to us to be born a human, die on the cross, and be raised from the dead three days later. In Matthew 7, Jesus says we can build our lives on solid rock or sinking sand.
Which will you choose today?
God, help us to admit where we have wandered off course and trust you. Please forgive us and renew us so we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, to the glory of your holy name. Amen!
Questions for reflection:
1. What pain have you experienced living in this broken world?
2. Where have your own actions caused you to experience pain?
3. How would you describe your ability to learn from pain you see around you and change course?
4. How has the pain you have experienced shaped your understanding of who God is?
5. Where has God proven himself loving and kind to you by offering you not what you want, but instead what you need?