Country Preacher - Micah

Micah was a country preacher who lived in the days of Isaiah and Hosea. He was a prophet of the common people. He prophesied concerning Samaria, the capital of Israel, and Jerusalem, the capital of Judah. He denounced the social sins of his day (Micah 2:2). He felt keenly these social evils. He saw the unfair treatment of the poor by the rich. He felt that these sins cried up to heaven.

Micah wanted the people to know that every cruel act to one’s fellow citizen was an insult to God. God is offended by the conduct of the people and the rulers. In spite of the state of things, the people tried to carry on their religious observances. Micah shows the uselessness of all this (Micah 6:7-8).

As the book opens we hear the cry, “Hear O peoples, all of you listen. O earth and all who are in it, that the Sovereign Lord may witness against you” (Micah 1:2). He further added God rebuked Samaria and Jerusalem for social injustice, unfaithfulness, dishonesty and idolatry (Micah 2:1-11; 1:6-9). He told them that Samaria, the capital of Israel, would fall (Micah 1:6-7). A similar judgement would come upon Judah. Judah’s sin is described as an incurable wound. The sins of the people ae stated in Micah 2:1-11. God will being suffering and shame upon them for their unscrupulous use of power.

In Micah 3 to 5 he gives a message to rulers concerning the coming of Christ. Even there he broken hearted tells of God’s judgement upon Judah for her sins. Jerusalem and its temple will be destroyed (Micah 3:12; 7:!3). The people of Judah will be taken captive to Babylon (Micah 4:10).

Micah was also a prophet of hope. He always looked beyond doom and punishment to the day of glory when Christ himself shall reign, when peace shall cover the earth. God gives the promise. Messiah will come. He will be born in Bethlehem (Micah 4:8; 5:2-4). In Micah 6, he gives a definition of religion. He tells to Act Justly, Love mercy and walk humbly with God.

Men and women are always trying to get back into the good graces of God with some outward religious service or some worldly rather than spiritual things. God wants righteous conduct and a real personal experience of him in each life. Because of unrighteous conduct, the people had to suffer unbelievable consequences. The best way to get back into God’s grace is to accept God’s grace.

May God help to walk with him and be victorious in your life through Romans 12:1-2.

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Don not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will”.