Micah 4-7: You know what to do

We move from Micah’s hard charges to a clear vision of peace, a shepherd-king from Bethlehem, and the simple, bracing call of Micah 6:8. We read the closing prayer that celebrates God’s mercy and urges us to trade cluttered religion for justice, loyal love, and humble obedience.

• hope and restoration after judgment
• Bethlehem prophecy and the shepherd-king
• peace beyond war and fear
• dismantling idols, false security, and corrupt gain
• God’s lawsuit and the exodus memory
• Micah 6:8 as a simple, concrete path
• waiting in darkness with resilient trust
• closing prayer of mercy and loyal love

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Chapters

• 0:00 Setting The Stage For Micah
• 0:57 Hope And The Coming King
• 2:42 Nations At Peace Under God
• 4:31 Exile, Rescue, And Bethlehem’s Ruler
• 6:26 Purging Idols And Empty Power
• 7:38 God’s Case And Micah 6:8
• 9:16 Corruption, Collapse, And Patient Trust
• 11:16 Rebuilding, Prayer, And Loyal Love
• 13:51 Simple Faith: Do Justice, Love Faithfulness

Transcript

Setting The Stage For Micah

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hey, welcome back to the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast. We're in the book of Micah. It's a short enough book. It just takes two episodes to get through. The first half we saw Micah speaking accusations from the Lord toward mostly Israel, but also Judah, for starting to slip into the same sinful patterns that the Northern Kingdom had been falling into. But mostly the Northern Kingdom, and it's specifically its leaders for leading the people away from the Lord. It was not a fun or necessarily encouraging read, okay, we'll be honest. But what's fun about the book of Micah is now the second half is we have some really, really beautiful messages of hope, restoration, better days ahead for Jerusalem, for God's people, and a lot of appearances of Jesus, not physically appearing here in the story, but uh a lot of uh references, prophecies ultimately about Jesus coming and what kind of king he'll be and how he'll come. Some of this will sound familiar if you are uh familiar with Jesus' birth story. Uh a lot of the prophecies of Jesus' birth and the coming king that Jesus is uh comes from Micah. It's kind of buried in here, like little nuggets that we that we come across as we dig in a little bit. So uh this is a really fun, really interesting section uh of the minor prophets to read, specifically the second half of the book of Micah. Uh listen carefully, listen for uh references to Jesus, listen for God's heart for reconciliation and restoration and what the Lord actually wants from his people. He's very clear. He's not hiding, he's not, he's not speaking in code here. It's he's very plain. Um, and so it should be easy for us to really get a sense of God's heart here in this uh the these chapters. And this section, uh the whole book concludes with a really beautiful prayer. It's a closing prayer, like you might close out a church service, um, but a very beautiful prayer uh that I think we would be wise to replicate. So uh let's let's read Micah four through seven, the last half of the book, uh here in the New English Translation. And in future days, the Lord's temple mount will be the most important mountain of all. It'll be more prominent than other hills. Many people will stream to it, many nations will come saying, Come on, let's go up to the Lord's mountain, to the temple of Jacob's God, so he can teach us his ways and we can live by his laws. For instruction will proceed from Zion, the Lord's message from Jerusalem. He'll arbitrate between many peoples and settle disputes between many distant nations. They will beat their swords into plough shares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not use weapons against other nations, and they'll no longer train for war. Each will sit under his own grapevine or under his own fig tree without any fear. The Lord of Heaven's armies has decreed it. Though all the nations follow their respective gods, we will follow the Lord our God forever. In that day, says the Lord, I will gather the lame and assemble the outcasts whom I injured, I'll transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation, and those far off into a mighty nation. The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion from that day forward and forevermore. As for you, watchtower for the flock, fortress of daughter Zion, your former dominion will be restored. The sovereignty that belongs to Daughter Jerusalem? Jerusalem, why are you now shouting so loudly? Has your king disappeared? Has your wise leader been destroyed? Is this why pain grips you as if you were a woman in labor? Twist and strain, daughter Zion, as if you were in labor, for you will leave the city and live in the open field. You'll go to Babylon, but there you will be rescued. There the Lord will deliver you from the power of your enemies. Many nations have now assembled against you, and they say Jerusalem must be desecrated, so we can gloat over Zion, but they don't know what the Lord is planning. They don't understand his strategy. He's gathered them like stalks of grain to be threshed at the threshing floor. So get up and thresh, daughter Zion, for I'll give you iron horns, I'll give you bronze hooves, and you will crush many nations. You'll devote to the Lord the spoils you take from them, and dedicate their wealth to the sovereign ruler of the whole earth. But now, slash yourselves, daughters surrounded by soldiers. We're besieged, with a scepter they strike Israel's ruler on the side of his face. But as for you, Bethlehem, Ephra, seemingly insignificant among the clans of Judah, from you from you a king will emerge who will rule over Israel on my behalf, one whose origins are in the distant past. So the Lord will hand the people of Israel over to their enemies until the time when the woman in labor gives birth, then the rest of the king's countrymen will return to be reunited with the people of Israel. He'll assume his post and shepherd the people by the Lord's strength, by the sovereign authority of the Lord his God. They'll live securely, for at that time he'll be honored, even in the distant regions of the earth. He will give us peace. Should the Assyrians try to invade our land and attempt to set foot in our fortresses, we will send against them seven shepherd rulers. Make that eight commanders. They'll rule the land of Assyria with a sword, the land of Nimrod with a drawn sword. Our king will rescue us from the Assyrians should they attempt to invade our land and try to set foot in our territory. Those survivors from Jacob will live in the midst of many nations. They'll be like the dew the Lord sends, like the rain on the grass that doesn't hope for men to come or wait around for humans to arrive. Those survivors from Jacob will live among the nations in the midst of many peoples. They'll be like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep which attacks when it passes through. It rips its prey, and there's no one to stop it. Lift your hand triumphantly against your adversaries. May all your enemies be destroyed. In that day, says the Lord, I will destroy your horses from your midst, and smash your chariots, I'll destroy the cities of your land and tear down all your fortresses, I'll remove the sorcery that you practice, and you'll no longer have omen readers living among you. I'll remove your idols and sacred pillars from your midst, you'll no longer worship what your own hands made. I will uproot your images of Asherah from your midst and destroy your idols. With furious anger I will carry out vengeance on the nations that do not obey me. Listen to what the Lord says. Get up, defend yourselves before the mountains, present your case before the hills. Oh hear the Lord's accusations, you mountains, you enduring foundations of the earth, for the Lord has a case against his people. He has a dispute with Israel. My people, how have I wronged you? How have I wearied you? Answer me. In fact, I brought you up from the land of Egypt. I delivered you from that place of slavery. I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead you. My people recall how King Balak of Moab planned to harm you, how Balaam, son of Beor, responded to him. Recall how you journeyed from Shetim to Gilgal so that you might acknowledge that the Lord has treated you fairly. That journey, by the way, is the journey into the promised land that Joshua led the people across the river into their new home, the fulfillment of the promised land. Recall that journey? So that you can acknowledge that the Lord has treated you fairly. With what should I enter the Lord's presence? With what should I bow before the sovereign God? Should I enter his presence with burnt offerings, with year old calves? Will the Lord accept a thousand rams or ten thousand streams of olive oil? Should I give him my firstborn child as a payment for my rebellion, my offspring, my own flesh and blood for my sin? He's told you, O man, what's good and what the Lord really wants from you. He wants you to carry out justice, to love faithfulness, and to live obediently before your God. Listen, the Lord is calling to the city. It's wise to respect your authority, O Lord. Listen, O nation to those assembled in the city. I will not overlook, O sinvil house, the dishonest gain you've hoarded away, or the smaller than standard measure I hate so much. I do not condone the use of rigged scales or a bag of deceptive weights. The city's wealthy people readily resort to violence. Her inhabitants tell lies. Their tongues speak deceptive words. I will strike you brutally and destroy you because of your sin. You'll eat, but not be satisfied. Even if you have the strength to overtake some prey, you will not be able to carry it away. If you do happen to carry away something, I'll deliver it over to the sword. You'll plant crops, but won't harvest them. You'll squeeze oil from the olives, but you'll have no oil to rub on your bodies. You'll squeeze juice from the grapes, but you'll have no wine to drink. You follow Omri's edicts and all the practices of Ahab's dynasty. You follow their policies, and therefore I will make you an appalling sight. The city's inhabitants will be taunted derisively, and nations will mock all of you. Woe is me, for I'm like those gathering fruit and those harvesting grapes when there's no grape cluster to eat and no fresh figs that my stomach craves. Faithful men have disappeared from the land, there are no godly men left. They all wait in ambush to shed blood. They hunt their own brother with a net. They're experts at doing evil. Government officials and judges take bribes, prominent men announce what they wish, and then they plan it out. The best of them is like a thorn. They're godly are like a thorn bush. Woe to your watchman. Your appointed punishment is on the way. The time of their confusion is now. Don't rely on a friend, don't trust a companion, even with the one who lies in your arms, do not share secrets, for a son thinks his father is a fool. A daughter challenges her mother, and a daughter-in-law her mother in law. A man's enemies are his own family. We got a lot of cases where that's true today, isn't it? But I will keep watching for the Lord. I will wait for the God who delivers me. My God will listen to me. My enemies do not gloat over me. Though I've fallen, I will get up. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. I must endure the Lord's fury, for I have sinned against him. But then he will defend my cause and accomplish justice on my behalf. He will lead me out into the light, and I'll witness his deliverance. When my enemies see this, they'll be covered with shame. They say to me, Where is the Lord your God? I'll gloat over them, and they will be trampled down like mud in the streets. It'll be a day for rebuilding your walls. In that day your boundary will be extended. Okay, and here's the closing prayer I was talking about. Listen to this. In that day people will come to you, from Assyria as far as Egypt, from Egypt as far as the Euphrates River, from the sea coasts and the mountains. The earth will become desolate because of what its inhabitants have done. Shepherd your people with your rod, the flock that belongs to you, the one that lives alone in a thicket, in the midst of a pasture land. Allow them to graze in Bashin and Gilead as they did in the old days. As in the days when you departed from the land of Egypt, I will show you miraculous deeds. Nations will see this and be disappointed by all their strength, and they'll put their hands over their mouths and act as if they were deaf, and they'll lick the dust like a snake, like serpents crawling on the ground. They'll come trembling from their strongholds to the Lord our God, and they'll be terrified of you. Who is a god like you? Who forgives sin and pardons the rebellion of those who remain among his people? Who doesn't stay angry forever, but delights in showing loyal love, who will once again have mercy on us, who will conquer our evil deeds, who will hurl all our sins into the depths of the sea. You will be loyal to Jacob, and extend your loyal love to Abraham, which you promised on oath to our ancestors in ancient times. What do you think of that? Micah's a pretty good book, isn't it? Might be worth another read this week. Go back and check it out. Take it at your own pace in your own time this week and dig into it, see what you can pull out of it. I encourage you to go check out Micah chapter six and follow the instructions that God gives his people here. To think back of what God has done. How has he wronged you? How have how has he wearied you? And look, you might have some answers to that. You might have some, well, you did this, you did this. Okay, that hey, that's fine. He's he can handle your questions and your and your complaints and your your frustrations. But then don't let it just sit there. Think about how all the ways that he has taken care of you and led you. And think about all the things that you are trying to do to try to get on the same page with God again. And hey, they're not necessarily even bad things, but I think we have a tendency to overcomplicate our relationship with God when He's just calling us to some simple things, and they're there in Micah 6.8, probably the most famous verse in the book of Micah. In this translation, it says, He's told you what's good and what the Lord really wants from you. He wants you to three things here. If if nothing else here, just these three things. Okay? Carry out justice, love faithfulness, and live obediently before your God. If you have a heart for those things, you'll do well. You'll do well. And that's the thinking out loud thought for the day.