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More Micah commentaries
Micah 3:1-12
Evil Rulers and Lying Prophets
Micah 4:1-8
The Tribulation and the Millennium
Micah 4:9-13
Events Preceding the Kingdom
Micah 5:1-6
Prophesies of Christ’s Coming
Micah 5:7-15
Survivors Safe and Idols Destroyed
Micah 6:1-8
The Lord’s Challenge to His People
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The Lord’s Challenge to His People
Micah 6:1–8
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)
Sometimes your medicine bottle has on it, “Shake well before using.” That is what God has to do with some of us sometimes. He has to shake us well before we are usable. (Vance Havner) … More
In this chapter Micah pictures a courtroom. God has a controversy against His people, and He calls the mountains and the hills together to form a jury as He sets forth His case. The people have replaced heartfelt worship with empty ritual, thinking that this is all that God demands. They have removed God’s standards of justice from their daily dealings in order to cover their unscrupulous practices. God, the judge tells His people what He requires of them and teaches all the ways they have wronged both Him and others.
God called on the mountains to confirm the peoples guilt (vv. 1-2). The mountains would serve as an excellent witness for it was in the high places that the people had built heathen altars and had sacrificed to false gods (Ez 20:28). When God asked the question, “O my people, what have I done to you?” (v. 3) the people could not answer because He had done no wrong. In fact God had been exceedingly patient with them and had given them every opportunity to return to Him. God continued to be kind to His forgetful people but their short memory and lack of thankfulness condemned them (v. 5). When people refuse to see how fortunate they are and begin to take God’s gifts for grated they become self-centered. We need to remember God’s goodness and thank Him. Remembering God’s past protection will help us see his present provision.
Israel responded to God’s request by trying to appease him with sacrifice hoping He would leave them alone (vv. 6-8). But sacrifice and other religious rituals are not enough; God wants changed lives. He wants us to become living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1-2), not just doing religious deeds. It is impossible for us to follow God consistently without his transforming love in our hearts. People have tried all kinds of ways to please God (6:6-7), but God has made His wishes clear; He wants His people to be just, merciful and to walk humbly with Him (v. 8).Application
In my efforts to please God I must be sure that I am fair in my dealings with people. Do I show mercy to those who have wronged me?
Micah 6:1-8 (English Standard Version)
Hear what the LORD says: Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the LORD, and you enduring foundations of the earth, for the LORD has an indictment against his people, and he will contend with Israel. "O my people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me! For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving acts of the LORD." "With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway) »
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