Sunday
Morning Bible Study
April
27, 2014
Introduction
Do people see Jesus? Is the gospel
preached? Does it speak to the broken hearted? Does it build up the church? Milk
– Meat – Manna Preach for a decision Is the church
loved? Regular: 2900 words Communion: 2500 words
National Day of Prayer Thursday
Micah lived in the days of the divided kingdom, when the northern kingdom
was called “Israel”, and the southern kingdom was called “Judah”
Micah lived in the southern kingdom of Judah and had messages for both the
northern and southern kingdoms.
1:1 Micah
:1 The word of the Lord that
came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and
Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
:1 Micah – Miykah –
“who is
like Yahweh”
:1 Moresheth
– “possession of Gath”
Micah was from a town in the southern kingdom, 20 miles southwest of
Jerusalem and 7 miles southeast of the Philistine city of Gath.
:1 in the days of Jotham,
Ahaz, Hezekiah
All three of these kings were from the southern kingdom of Judah.
Jotham was one of the good kings.
Ahaz was Jotham’s son, and was a
bad king.
Hezekiah was Ahaz’ son, and he was
one of the best of the good kings.
This would put Micah’s ministry roughly from 750-700 BC.
:1 Jotham – Yowtham – “Yahweh is perfect”
He was the son of king Uzziah, a
king of the southern kingdom of Judah.
He was one of the “good” kings
(2Ki. 15:32-38) and
reigned for sixteen years (750-732 BC).
:1 Ahaz – ‘Achaz – “he has grasped”
He was the son of Jotham, also in the southern kingdom
of Judah.
He ruled for sixteen years, 736-716 BC (2Ki. 16).
He was NOT a good king.
He made alliances with the Assyrians and introduced
the gods of Damascus to the southern kingdom of Judah. He renovated the Temple
in Jerusalem to copy some ideas he saw in a temple in Damascus. It was during
his reign that the Assyrians invaded and conquered the northern kingdom.
:1 Hezekiah – Y@chizqiyah – “Yahweh has made strong”.
He was the son of Ahaz.
He was one of the best of the “good” kings of the
southern kingdom of Judah (2Ki. 18-20) and reigned for 29 years (716-687 BC).
He brought all sorts of reforms to the nation, getting
rid of idolatry, reviving the Passover, bringing people back to God.
The Assyrians also attacked Hezekiah, but God did a
miraculous work, sending a single angel who killed 185,000 Assyrians in a single
night.
The prophet Isaiah ministered during these times as
well and was possibly a bit older than Micah since he also prophesied during
the reign of Uzziah, Jotham’s father as well.
1:2-7 Judgment on Israel
:2 Hear, all you peoples! Listen, O earth, and all
that is in it! Let the Lord God
be a witness against you, The Lord from His holy temple.
:2 Hear, all you peoples! – shama‘– to hear, listen to, obey
There are three major divisions of the book of Micah, and they all begin
with this word, “Hear”. (chapters 1-2, 3-5, 6-7)
We are going to break up our study of Micah according to these same three
sections.
Lesson
Are you listening?
It’s important to God that we be able to “hear” what He says.
Eight times in the gospels, Jesus says,
(Matthew
11:15 NKJV) He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
There’s a similar phrase found 7 times in the book of Revelation:
(Revelation
2:7 NKJV) “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the
churches..
Illustration
Whale Talk
An expert on whales was telling friends about some of the unusual findings
he had made. “For instance,” he said, “some whales can communicate at a
distance of 300 miles.” “What on earth would one whale say to another 300 miles
away?” asked a sarcastic member of the group. “I’m not absolutely sure,”
answered the expert, “but it sounds something like ‘Heeeeeeey!
Can you hear me nowwww!?!
Are you listening for God to speak to you today?
One of the prophets in the Old
Testament had a name based on this word “to hear”. His name was Samuel. His
name meant “heard by God”
(1 Samuel 3:1–11 NKJV) —1 Now the
boy Samuel ministered to the Lord
before Eli. And the word of the Lord
was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation.
Samuel was a young
child, perhaps 3-5 years old at the time.
The rarity of
God’s Word might have been because God was not speaking. It could also mean
that people weren’t listening.
2 And it came to pass at that time, while
Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow so
dim that he could not see, 3 and
before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord where the ark of God was,
and while Samuel was lying down, 4 that the
Lord called Samuel. And he
answered, “Here I am!”
This little boy
actually heard God speak. He just didn’t know yet that it was God.
5 So he ran to Eli and said, “Here I am,
for you called me.” And he
said, “I did not call; lie down again.” And he went and lay down.
6 Then the Lord called yet again, “Samuel!” So Samuel arose and went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for
you called me.” He answered, “I did not call, my son; lie down again.” 7
(Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, nor was the word of the Lord yet revealed to him.)
8 And the Lord
called Samuel again the third time. So he arose and went to Eli, and said,
“Here I am, for you did call me.” Then Eli
perceived that the Lord had
called the boy.
Eli was the high
priest at that time. Eli finally begins to realize what is going on, that God
has been calling out to the boy.
9 Therefore Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie
down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.’ ”
So Samuel went and lay down in his place. 10 Now the Lord came and stood and called as at
other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And
Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.” 11 Then the Lord
said to Samuel: “Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of
everyone who hears it will tingle.
Do you know what God’s
voice sounds like?
It could be that
like little Samuel, you hear something but think it’s just the guy on the
teacher on the radio that you’re listening to. Perhaps God might be speaking to
you through something that a friend says. Perhaps God might be speaking to you
as you are reading from His Word in the morning.
I think it’s a
good practice to learn to say what Samuel was taught to say:
“Speak, for Your
servant hears”.
Do you give God
permission to say something to you?
Are you God’s
servant, willing to do whatever God would be saying to you?
Are you listening?
Lesson
Respond to the warnings
Micah lived during the time of King
Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah.
We know that Isaiah had an influence on King Hezekiah,
but apparently so did Micah.
A hundred years after Micah, Jeremiah the prophet was seized and charged
with being a traitor for predicting the fall of Jerusalem. Some people rose up
to defend him and used Micah as an example of a similar prophecy:
(Jeremiah
26:17–19 NKJV) —17 Then certain of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the
assembly of the people, saying: 18 “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the
days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, ‘Thus
says the Lord of hosts: “Zion shall
be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, And the
mountain of the temple Like the bare hills of the forest.” ’ 19 Did
Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah ever put him to death? Did he not fear the
Lord and seek the Lord’s favor? And
the Lord—relented concerning the
doom which He had pronounced against them. But we are doing great evil against
ourselves.”
They were quoting Micah’s prophecy in Micah 3:12.
(Micah 3:12 NKJV) Therefore
because of you Zion shall be plowed
like a field, Jerusalem
shall become heaps of ruins, And the
mountain of the temple Like the
bare hills of the forest.
Hezekiah paid attention to Micah’s prophecy.
shama’
doesn’t just mean “hear”, it means “obey”.
Hezekiah turned. He responded.
The people of Jeremiah’s day ought to also pay attention.
Sometimes people who love us will warn us not to do stupid things … like
lighting your pants on fire…
How do you respond when people say hard things to you?
Sometimes these “hard things” are not actually accurate true and I have to
work at not being offended and let it go.
Sometimes the hard things are true.
I need to listen to the warnings and change.
:3 For behold, the Lord is coming out of His place; He will come down And tread
on the high places of the earth.
:4 The mountains will melt under Him, And the
valleys will split Like wax before the fire, Like waters poured down a steep
place.
:4 mountains will melt
The Psalmist wrote,
(Psalm 97:5 NKJV) The
mountains melt like wax at the presence of the Lord, At the
presence of the Lord of the whole earth.
God is bigger than your mountains.
He’s bigger than your problems. They can melt in His presence.
:5 All this is for the transgression of Jacob And
for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Are
they not Jerusalem?
:5 the transgression of Jacob
Samaria??
:5 the high places of Judah
Jerusalem??
:5 Samaria … Jerusalem
Samaria was the capital of the northern kingdom.
Jerusalem was the capital of the southern kingdom.
The sins of both the northern and southern kingdom were centered in their
capitals.
Both the northern kingdom and
southern kingdoms are condemned.
:6 “Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of ruins
in the field, Places for planting a vineyard; I will pour down her stones into
the valley, And I will uncover her foundations.
:7 All her carved images shall be beaten to
pieces, And all her pay as a harlot shall be burned with the fire; All her
idols I will lay desolate, For she gathered it from the pay of a harlot,
And they shall return to the pay of a harlot.”
:6 make Samaria a heap of ruins
Video: Samaria/Sebaste map clip
At one point Samaria was a large, thriving city covering the entire hill.
Micah would see the day when Samaria was conquered by the Assyrians in 722
BC.
The “Hill of Samaria” looks like this today.
Samaria didn’t stay a heap of
ruins.
The Assyrians brought in conquered
peoples from other lands and repopulated the area.
The city would be conquered and rebuilt
several times through Assyrian, Babylonian, Greek, and Roman empires.
By the time of Jesus, Samaria was
given to Herod the Great as a gift from the Roman Emperor Augustus. Herod
renamed the city “Sebaste”, the Greek word for Augustus (“revered”).
Today it is a small town of 4500
people there.
Micah said it would be “for
planting a vineyard” – notice the farming going on around the hill.
The whole point here was that
Samaria’s continual idolatry and rebellion of God would one day be judged.
1:8-16 Mourning for Israel and Judah
: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,
:8 jackals – tanniyn – dragon, serpent, sea monster
:8 ostriches – ya’anah – an unclean bird; owl, ostrich,
literally translated as “daughters of the owl”
:9 For her wounds are incurable. For it has
come to Judah; It has come to the gate of My people—
To Jerusalem.
:10 Tell it not in Gath, Weep not at all;
:10 Gath – “winepress”
The giant Goliath (1000 BC) came
from Gath.
Gath was one of the five main Philistine cities, the home of Goliath, and
an ancient enemy of Israel.
Micah is quoting one of David’s songs, written when King Saul was slain:
(2 Samuel 1:20
NKJV) Tell it not in Gath, Proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon— Lest the
daughters of the Philistines rejoice, Lest the daughters of the uncircumcised triumph.
Don’t tell the enemies what’s ahead for Judah.
:10 In Beth Aphrah Roll
yourself in the dust.
:10 Beth Aphrah
– “house of dust”
From this place through verse 12, we don’t know the locations of the cities
mentioned.
It seems that Micah is going to use a few plays on words. We sometimes call
them “puns” …
A friend of mine who commutes to
work every day through the Lincoln Tunnel with a bunch of co-workers recently
complained about what a pain it was. I told him that he may have a bad case of
“car pool tunnel syndrome.”
There was a man who entered a local paper’s pun contest. He sent in ten
different puns, in the hope that at least one of the puns would win. Unfortunately,
no pun in ten did.
A guy goes to a psychiatrist. “Doc,
I keep having these alternating recurring dreams. First I’m a teepee; then I’m
a wigwam; then I’m a teepee; then I’m a wigwam. It’s driving me crazy. What’s wrong
with me?” The doctor replies: “It’s very simple. You’re two tents.”
A hungry African lion was roaming through the jungle looking for something
to eat. He came across two men. One was sitting under a tree and reading a
book; the other was typing away on his typewriter. The lion quickly pounced on
the man reading the book and devoured him. Even the king of the jungle knows
that readers digest and writers cramp.
The big play on words is this: The “house
of dust” will roll around in the dust.
:11 Pass by in naked shame, you inhabitant of Shaphir;
:11 inhabitant … inhabitant
Micah uses a feminine form of the
word, hinting that the women would be taken captive first.
:11 Shaphir
– “fair” or “beautiful”
Location unknown
The inhabitants of the “beautiful” place will be paraded about in naked
shame.
:11 The inhabitant of Zaanan
does not go out.
:11 Zaanan – “go out”
The city sounds like a word meaning “to go out”, yet
they will not “go out”.
:11 Beth Ezel mourns;
Its place to stand is taken away from you.
:11 Beth Ezel – “foundation”
Location unknown
The
word sounds like a word for “foundation”, but they will have no place (foundation)
to stand on.
:12 For the inhabitant of Maroth
pined for good, But disaster came down from the Lord To the gate of Jerusalem.
:12 Maroth
– “bitterness”
Location unknown
pined – chuwl
– writhe, fear, tremble, travail, be in anguish, be pained
The inhabitants of “bitterness”
would really be in anguish.
The city sounds like a word meaning “to wait for good”, but instead of good
coming, disaster would come and the people would be in anguish as far as the
gate of Jerusalem.
:13 O inhabitant of Lachish, Harness the chariot
to the swift steeds (She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of
Zion), For the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
:14 Therefore you shall give presents to Moresheth Gath; The houses of Achzib
shall be a lie to the kings of Israel.
:15 I will yet bring an heir to you, O inhabitant
of Mareshah; The glory of Israel shall come to Adullam.
We know where these cities were.
Play Lachish and company map clip
Lachish, Moresheth, Mareshah,
and Adullam were in the south. Achzib was in the
north.
:13 Lachish – “invincible”
Lachish was a fairly large and
important city about 30 miles from Jerusalem.
Lachish was a city known for its horses, but their swift horses wouldn’t
keep them from being conquered.
Apparently it was been an influence
towards idolatry on Jerusalem.
:14 Moresheth
Gath – “possession of Gath”
(Micah 1:14 NLT) Send
farewell gifts to Moresheth-gath; there is no hope of
saving it.
Jerusalem will be “giving” Moresheth to Assyria.
This is Micah’s home town.
:14 Achzib
– “deceit”
Achzib is on the northern coast of Israel, right
next to the Lebanon border.
Another pun.
Here the inhabitants of “deceit” will be a “lie” to the kings of Israel.
Being one of the northernmost cities, perhaps it could have served to warn
the rest of the nation, but it will be of no help.
:15 heir to… Mareshah
– “possessor”
(Micah 1:15 NIV) I will
bring a conqueror against you who live in Mareshah.
A town 2 ½ miles southwest from
Micah’s hometown of Moresheth.
“Mareshah” is sounds very close to
the word “conqueror”.
The “conqueror” (Assyria) would own the “possessor”
:15 glory of Israel … to Adullam “justice of the people”
A town 5 miles
northeast from Moresheth.
The “glory of Israel” could be a reference to Judah’s leaders.
David once hid at the “cave of Adullam”, just as some
of the humbled leaders would be hiding out at Adullam.
:9 it has come to Judah
Micah is talking about the coming Assyrian invasions and how they will
overflow into Judah.
They conquered the northern kingdom and swept it away into captivity in 722
BC.
But in the days of Hezekiah, the Assyrians would come back and conquer just
about everything except Jerusalem (2Ki. 18:13-14). Perhaps Jerusalem was spared because Hezekiah
listened to Micah (Jer. 26:19).
They would advance and take many of
the cities around Jerusalem including big ones like Lachish (2Ki. 18:13-14)
before God would deliver Hezekiah with a single angel killing 186,000
Assyrians.
(2 Kings 18:13–14 NKJV) —13 And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib
king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took
them. 14 Then Hezekiah king
of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong;
turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay.” And the king of
Assyria assessed Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and
thirty talents of gold.
Initially Hezekiah
would pay a large sum to send the Assyrians away, but they would come back.
God would send a single angel and
deliver Hezekiah and Jerusalem from the Assyrians, but much of the rest of the
nation of Judah fell to Assyria.
:16 Make yourself bald and cut off your hair,
Because of your precious children; Enlarge your baldness like an eagle, For
they shall go from you into captivity.
:16 Make yourself bald
As a way of expressing grief.
:16 into captivity
Micah is encouraging the people to grieve over the coming judgment.
The northern kingdom would be swept
away in 722 BC by the Assyrians.
The southern kingdom would be swept
away in 586 by the Babylonians.
The bigger issue (from vs. 2) is, would they be listening to Micah’s
warnings now?
The northern kingdom would be swept away in 722 BC, but King Hezekiah
turned things around in the south and they were not swept away by the
Assyrians.
2:1-5 Woe to Evildoers
:1 Woe to those who devise iniquity, And work out
evil on their beds! At morning light they practice it,
Because it is in the power of their hand.
:2 They covet fields and take them by
violence, Also houses, and seize them. So they
oppress a man and his house, A man and his inheritance.
:1 work out evil on their beds
Their “to do” list each day looked like this: 1) Wake up, 2) Plan evil, 3) Get out of bed.
The idea is that before they even
get up out of bed in the morning, they are planning to do evil.
David wrote,
(Psalm 36:1–4 NKJV) —1 An
oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked: There is no fear of God
before his eyes. 2 For he
flatters himself in his own eyes, When he
finds out his iniquity and when he hates. 3 The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; He has ceased to be wise and to do good.
4 He devises wickedness on his bed; He sets himself in a way that is not good; He does not abhor evil.
Solomon wrote,
(Proverbs 4:14–16 NKJV) —14 Do not
enter the path of the wicked, And do
not walk in the way of evil. 15 Avoid
it, do not travel on it; Turn
away from it and pass on. 16 For they
do not sleep unless they have done evil; And
their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall.
They have nothing better to do with
their time than to lay on their beds at night and dream of the ways they will
oppress people.
What are you thinking about when
you get up in the morning?
:3 Therefore thus says the Lord: “Behold, against this family I am devising disaster,
From which you cannot remove your necks; Nor shall you walk haughtily, For this
is an evil time.
:3 you cannot remove your necks
In ancient days, a conqueror would put their foot on the neck of their
conquered foe to show their complete domination over them. The Jewish people will not be able to get out
of the difficulty that was coming.
(Joshua 10:24–26 NKJV) —24 So it
was, when they brought out those kings to Joshua, that Joshua called for all
the men of Israel, and said to the captains of the men of war who went with
him, “Come near, put your feet on the necks of these kings.” And they drew near
and put their feet on their necks. 25 Then
Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; be strong and of good
courage, for thus the Lord will
do to all your enemies against whom you fight.” 26 And afterward Joshua struck them and killed them, and hanged
them on five trees; and they were hanging on the trees until evening.
:4 In that day one shall take up a proverb
against you, And lament with a bitter lamentation, saying: ‘We are utterly
destroyed! He has changed the heritage of my people; How He has removed it
from me! To a turncoat He has divided our fields.’ ”
:5 Therefore you will have no one to determine
boundaries by lot In the assembly of the Lord.
:4 changed the heritage of my
people
Things you’ve counted on all your
life will be gone.
The natural future for each family,
passing on property from one generation to the next, would not take place.
They will lose all their property.
Verse 5 is translated in the NLT –
(Micah 2:5 NLT) Others
will set your boundaries then, and the Lord’s
people will have no say in how the land is divided.
2:6-11 Lying Prophets
:6 “Do not prattle,” you say to those who
prophesy. So they shall not prophesy to you; They
shall not return insult for insult.
:6 prattle – nataph
– to drop, drip, prophesy
The word is used three times in
this verse. The other two times it’s translated “prophesy”
The people would be telling the
prophets to “shut up”.
:6 They shall not return insult
for insult
The translation is a little rough
here. Some of the other translations translate it like this:
(Micah 2:6 NLT) “Don’t say
such things,” the people respond. “Don’t prophesy like that. Such disasters
will never come our way!”
The idea is that the people don’t want to hear the truth. They are sure that trouble will not be coming
their way.
Micah responds by saying …
:7 You who are named the house of Jacob:
“Is the Spirit of the Lord
restricted? Are these His doings? Do not My
words do good To him who walks uprightly?
:8 “Lately My people have risen up as an enemy— You pull off the robe with
the garment From those who trust you, as they pass by, Like men returned
from war.
:8 From those who trust you
(Micah 2:8 NLT) Yet to
this very hour my people rise against me like an enemy! You steal the shirts
right off the backs of those who trusted you, making them as ragged as men
returning from battle.
:7 Is the Spirit of the Lord restricted?
restricted – qatsar –
to be
impatient, be grieved
Lesson
Grieving the Spirit
Micah was saying (vs. 8) that the people were abusing each other to the
point that people looked like they were returning from war, when they had only
been to church.
God’s Spirit is grieved when we mistreat each other.
(Ephesians
4:29–32 NKJV) —29 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for
necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. 30 And do not
grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of
redemption. 31
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put
away from you, with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Foul or abusive language towards each other grieves God’s
Spirit.
Things like bitterness, anger and gossip (evil speaking)
grieve the Holy Spirit.
It’s hard when you start getting close to other people in
the church. Feelings get hurt. Things get said. Sometimes we respond the wrong way by keeping
things “shallow”
Video: Shallow Small Group2
God’s Spirit inside of us is trying to move us towards
showing kindness, compassion, and grace (forgiveness) to each other.
We need to learn how to yield to that work of the Spirit
in our lives.
:7 My words do good To him who walks
uprightly
God’s words aren’t going to do you any good unless you pay attention to
them and do what they say.
Lesson
Where are you walking?
Walking is about taking steps.
Where you “walk” is where you actually take your life.
It’s not where you “dream” of going. It’s where you
actually go.
The one who “walks” uprightly is the one who is actually doing the right
things.
(Psalm 1:1–3
NKJV) —1 Blessed is the man Who walks
not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the
scornful; 2 But his
delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His
law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings
forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall
prosper.
We like that last phrase, “whatever he does shall prosper”.
But to get to that verse, you have to be a person who
chooses not to walk in the things that ungodly people want you to do.
You have to be a person who delights in God’s word, so
much that you do what it says.
You have to learn to “walk” or obey the things that God
wants you to do.
I am glad you are at church today, but the real benefit to
you doesn’t come from being at church and listening to God’s Word, the benefit
comes the more we obey God’s Word.
:9 The women of My people you cast out From their
pleasant houses; From their children You have taken away My glory forever.
:10 “Arise and depart, For this is not your
rest; Because it is defiled, it shall destroy, Yes, with utter destruction.
:11 If a man should walk in a false spirit And speak a lie, saying,
‘I will prophesy to you of wine and drink,’ Even he would be the prattler of
this people.
:11 prattler – nataph – to drop, drip, prophesy
This is the word translated
“prophesy” in verse 6.
2:12-13 Promised Restoration
:12 “I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob, I will surely gather the
remnant of Israel; I will put them together like sheep of the fold, Like a
flock in the midst of their pasture; They shall make a loud noise because of so
many people.
:12 I will surely gather the remnant of Israel
With all the warnings of future
judgment, there will be a day when God will restore the nation of Israel.
:12 I will put them together
Is this talking about God reuniting
the northern and southern kingdoms?
:13 The one who breaks open will come up before
them; They will break out, Pass through the gate, And go out by it; Their king
will pass before them, With the Lord
at their head.”
:13 With the Lord at their head
(Micah 2:13 NLT) Your leader will
break out and lead you out of exile, out through the gates of the enemy cities,
back to your own land. Your king will lead you; the Lord himself will guide you.”
There is already a sense in which
the Lord has brought the nation of Israel back into the land.
We call this immigration process
“Aliyah”
Ultimately this is speaking of Jesus’ second coming when He, the Lord, will
lead them.
:11 prophesy to you of wine
(Micah 2:11 NIV) If a liar
and deceiver comes and says, ‘I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’
that would be just the prophet for this people!
Lesson
False comfort
Micah is talking about false prophets telling the people that happy days
are just ahead – in fact days of wine and beer for everyone!
Some people claiming to speak for God will tell you things that you want to
hear rather than the things that you need to hear.
Paul wrote,
(2
Timothy 4:3–4 NKJV) —3 For the time
will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own
desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap
up for themselves teachers; 4 and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be
turned aside to fables.
The problem is that sometimes there aren’t happy days ahead. Sometimes
there are difficult times ahead.
Paul wrote,
(2
Corinthians 4:16–18 NKJV) —16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though
our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by
day. 17 For our
light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more
exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.
For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are
not seen are eternal.
Paul saw afflictions as a way of God working better,
weightier things into our lives.
Illustration
From Daniel 12c
A vacationer
watched with curiosity as a lumberman occasionally jabbed his sharp hook into a
log, separating it from the others that were floating down a mountain stream.
When asked why he did this, the worker replied, “These may all look alike to
you, but a few of them are quite different. The ones I let pass are from trees
that grew in a valley where they were always protected from the storms. Their
grain is coarse. The ones I’ve hooked and kept apart from the rest came from
high up on the mountains. From the time they were small, they were beaten by
strong winds. This toughens the trees and gives them a fine and beautiful
grain. We save them for choice work. They’re too good to make into plain
lumber.”
Be careful about avoiding the storms in life. Sometimes they are necessary to make you
stronger.
One of the ways we make it through the storms is by sticking with each
other.
The writer to the Hebrews was addressing a group of people who were
undergoing persecution. He wrote,
(Hebrews 10:23–25
NKJV) —23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,
for He who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good
works, 25 not
forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of
some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day
approaching.
Illustration
From 1Sa 20
The Sequoia trees
of California tower as much as 300 feet above the ground. Strangely, these
giants have unusually shallow root systems that reach out in all directions to
capture the greatest amount of surface moisture. Seldom will you see a redwood standing
alone because high winds would quickly uproot it. That's why they grow in
clusters. Their intertwining roots provide support for one another against the
storms.
Don’t avoid your difficulties. They help you grow. Don’t go through it alone.