August 18, 2025 - Micah 1-4

“The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth” (1:1).  The Lord uses ordinary people to accomplish his purposes.  An example?  “Micah of Moresheth.”  Micah who?  From where?  Just an old country boy.  But how powerfully did he speak to his people, using their language, and using illustrations and stories from the farm and vineyard that they would understand.  God picked just the right man to speak to this audience.

Micah spoke to the people of the small towns and farms and countryside.  But he also spoke to the “heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel” (3:1,9).  All, from the most powerful to the most impoverished, must hear the word of the Lord and respond.  He spoke “concerning the prophets” (3:5).  Micah addressed the nations (4:1-5).  But just as all peoples are brought under obligation to the Lord and his word, so all peoples will find hope in the same Messiah.  From Bethlehem will come a ruler, who will shepherd his people like a flock.  In him they will find peace.

Christ is the world's true light,

its Captain of salvation,

the Daystar clear and bright

of every land and nation;

new life, new hope awakes,

for all who own his sway:

freedom her bondage breaks,

and night is turned to day.   -- G. W. Briggs (1931)