For some reason I struggled with this book more than usual. It was the first time I thought perhaps to take a pause on this blogging journey.
Part of the struggle is the last year has been meditating on the major prophets – God’s warning and impending judgment if they hardened their hearts. Which they did. But spending a year on that was tough. And then living what feels like a repeat of history with every new move for evil in the world.
But moving on.
What We learn From Micah.
- Micah is a two themed book – Judgment and Redemption. They go back and forth so fast in this book that it is hard to keep up. But what the Lord is communicating is his heart. It isn’t just judgment and God walks away. But his desire is to redeem his people from their sins. And when he restores, it will be at a level even more than before.
- Messiah is coming and will be born in Bethlehem. This was always the hope of the Jewish people – the Messiah. He would save them and redeem them from their sins. In this prophetic book, we get an amazing detail of where Messiah would be born. We actually have a fragment of this text with this verse prior to the birth of Christ. So many fulfilled prophecies and they came to pass.
- God’s heart is redemption, not judgment. But make no mistake, he will only tolerate evil for so long. People tend to think he is a soft pushover and take advantage of that, doing evil with no fear of the LORD and no thought for eternity. Or they think he is only a judgmental, angry God who wants to destroy people. So they reject him for being “mean.” But the truth is God is both love and justice embodied. But at the end of the day, he desires mercy over judgment.