Micah 3:5-12
Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray,
who cry “Peace”when they have something to eat,
but declare war against those who put nothing into their mouths.
Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision,and darkness to you, without revelation.
The sun shall go down upon the prophets,and the day shall be black over them;
the seers shall be disgraced,and the diviners put to shame;
they shall all cover their lips,for there is no answer from God.
But as for me, I am filled with power,with the spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.
Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob and chiefs of the house of Israel,
who abhor justice and pervert all equity,
who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wrong!
Its rulers give judgment for a bribe,its priests teach for a price, its prophets give oracles for money;
yet they lean upon the Lord and say,“Surely the Lord is with us! No harm shall come upon us.”
We have built a nation on separation of church and state. Though we claim that our government is not a theocracy, we have allegedly built it on Christian values. It this indictment were to be made against the US today, it would be speaking to Washington and to Christendom. This of course could not be speaking to us today. We are not a christian nation, God’s chosen people, or any type of cohesive people recognized by God. But as a thinking exercise, I might imagine that we are. (esp. because there are those that firmly believe we are)
The previous verses, 1-4, the leaders are being chastised by God for their horrible abuse of their position. They should offer justice to the people and yet they are cruel towards those they lead and are willing to take everything they can from the people.
Listen you leaders of Jacob,
you rulers of the house of Israel.
should you not know justice,
you who hate good and love evil;
who tear the skin from my people
and the flesh from their bones;
who eat my peoples flesh,
strip off their skin
and break their bones in pieces;
who chop them up like meat for the
pan,
like flesh for the pot?
Then they will cry out to the LORD,
but he will not answer them.
At that time he will hide his face from
them
because of the evil they have done.
And the prophets are telling the leaders what they want to hear in exchange for bribes. They lead everyone astray by falsely proclaiming peace. They are ignoring the injustices of the leaders because it pays to do so. They slander true prophets like Micah.
What would it look like today if a true prophet from God were to speak to the leaders and the church? Its hard to imagine just what he/she would say. One of the patterns repeated in the OT is God using a nation that is hungry for power and cruel in its conquest of other nations, to come in and overtake Israel and lead its people away to be captives and slaves in a foreign land. Perhaps that is what would be said to us today. Perhaps our great cities would be heaps of rubble due to the bombs that would destroy them. Perhaps all that we rely on would reduce us to utter helplessness. Perhaps we would cry out to God and He would turn his face away. If we were God’s chosen people, I think a prophet would be proclaiming that to us.
What About Me?
I lead my own life. I am the leaders of Israel. The false prophets are the image I want others to see when they look at my life. Whenever my actions are in line with my faith it’s because I am benefiting from it. I live in the bible belt and perhaps it is good for others to think well of me because of my faith. And Micah is perhaps the truth. When I see truth that challenges me to live differently. Become more humble. Stop avoiding love because it’s messy. Give as generously as I have been given to. Trust God’s plan rather than mine. Do I see everything that God has given me as just there for me to indulge in? Do I continue to indulge in whatever I want and build my life where God has to hide his face from me. Do I take seriously my self indulgence. Jesus says that to follow him I must deny myself and carry my cross. Am I denying myself and losing my own life because that is what loving my neighbor looks like? Do I try to make God’s word fit the life I want to live?
Being filled with power and the spirit and justice and might, comes from being convicted of my sinfulness vs 8. Do I welcome critique from God’s word and follow it with prayer and repentance? Am I leading my life by the power of the spirit. Am I leading my life with justice, righteousness and mercy? Or am I looking for gain? Allowing evil and darkness because it serves me and I benefit from it?
Am I even concerned that there will come a time when it’s too late. Scripture won’t cut my heart. I won’t gain any insight from it because of my refusal to embrace it and reject evil and darkness. Will I become cold and cynical? A has been, incapable of seeing truth because I lived hypocritically for so long.v6-7
Kinda dark. But God has always sent prophets not so much to announce doom but to call us to repentance and help us see God’s vision for what our lives look like when we love and obey him. It is never too late to repent. God can always redeem any thing no matter what kind of a mess I have made of things. God’s word, His truth, is alive because of His Spirit. God speaks to me to convict me of my sin through His word. Not so that I feel guilty but perhaps it is how God set it up for me to purify myself, so that I, as a child of God, along with others, will learn to see Christ in the world. 1John 3:1-3