In order to understand Micah’s misery, we must look at three things that were happening among God’s people.

The loss of godly character. Micah says, “The godly has perished from the earth” (7:2). He is talking about a loss of godly characte...

When Jesus came preaching the message of the gospel, He said, “The kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15). But too often we’ve cut that in half. We sometimes drop the “repent,” and go strictly with “believe the go...

If you want to walk with God, you need to get on the path where He is—the path of justice and mercy. God says to us: "If you get on that path, you will find me there."

God is the God of justice and mercy. This is what the cross is all about...

The second dimension of our calling is to love kindness or mercy. To love mercy is not merely to show mercy, but to love it.

People who love mercy look for any opportunity to show it. We’ve talked about ways in which you may have wronged ot...

To “do justice” means you do what is right even when it is costly. You pursue integrity rather than convenience. It means asking, “How can I give full value?” rather than wondering, "What can I get away with?" It means refusing to take advantage o...

These are the words of someone who holds up his hands and says, “You got me. I’m guilty. Now what do I do?”

Our first instinct when we feel guilty is to become religious (burnt offerings). “This doesn’t feel right. Maybe we could give somet...

Some folks had become pretty wealthy, but God has some questions about how they made all their money. This hits pretty close to home. Maybe you have done well in business, but you feel uncomfortable about how you made your money. You look back at ...

God was saying to His people: “Your parents were slaves. If it had not been for me, that would have been your life too. But I stepped in and brought them out of Egypt. I made them my own and brought them into an entirely new position—freedom and b...

If you want to know the kind of life that God is calling you to lead, you won't find a better summary than Micah 6:8.

The best way to understand this verse is to get the big picture of the whole chapter. What God says to His people here is ...

How does a person turn from his or her idols? There’s a one-word answer to this question—“love.” Maybe you are drawn to God, and yet something inside you holds back. We want to draw near to God, but how can we overcome this impulse to avoid Him?</...

You were made for a God-centred life. You were made to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. “Turning from idols” means that you let God be God. It means that you worship God and love Him for who He is, and not as a means to some other end.

Focus on the verbs. This is the action God says He will take: He will “cut off” (5:10), “destroy” (5:10), “throw down” (5:11), “root out” (5:14), and “execute vengeance” (5:15) on all idols.

Notice the subject. God is telling us that this i...

Everything in the created order belongs to a class— planets, fish, birds, animals, and humans-but God is in a class of His own. That’s what we mean when we say, “God is holy.” He is set apart from everything else.

John Piper says, “Diamonds...

Dr. Walter Kaiser points out four dimensions of idolatry that can be found in Micah 5:

Self-help. “I will cut off your horses from among you and will destroy your chariots” (5:10). This is about self- confidence: "We can do it!" What room i...

There is no better place to hide from God than religion. Being religious allows you to think you’re spiritual even while you are avoiding God.

It is possible to tell yourself that you are seeking God, while what you are really doing is hidi...

Why do idols exist? Here are two reasons:

Our attraction to God. Every human being is made in the image of God. That’s true of the most messed up, dysfunctional, twisted person you can think of. It is also true of you. That's why wherever y...

It’s dangerously easy to turn God’s good gifts into idols. Adam was made to enjoy a relationship with God. Adam had that relationship before he had a home in Eden, before he had work in the garden, and before God gave him a wife. The order is impo...

Notice the word “your” in verse 13. Idolatry had taken root among God’s own people. Micah is talking to the church crowd.

Idolatry is worshipping and serving created things rather than the Creator. The apostle Paul speaks about this: “They ...

God sits exalted on the throne of the universe, the sovereign Lord over all creation. Nothing can touch Him. No one can usurp Him. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One God is adored in heaven, and one day He will be confessed by every tongue on...

If you are walking by faith in Jesus Christ, then over the noise of your enemies’ voices, you are able to say: “I am a child of the King. I have a place at His table. I have been redeemed by the blood of Christ. I belong to the Shepherd-King. My l...

Imagine a great banquet hall in the king’s palace. The king is dressed in common clothes, and he is doing the work of a servant, preparing the table for a great banquet.

All of us are gathered in this vast hall. We would like to help the ki...

David was the greatest king God’s people ever had. But he had his own sins and flaws. You will never find a leader who is everything you think a shepherd should be.

The good news of the gospel is that God Himself has come to be your shepher...

The common image of a biblical shepherd is an older man with a beard walking slowly through the countryside. He is wearing a flowing robe and carrying a long stick with a hook on the end.

If that’s how you think about a shepherd, then it’s ...

Whenever we come to this theme of shepherds and sheep in the Bible, we have a problem. Animals tend to make us sentimental, and most of us have a remarkable capacity to project an image onto animals that is a long way from reality.

Take bea...

How will God establish peace on earth? It begins with God judging. Here are three more things Micah tells us:

God will gather. “I will assemble the lame” (4:6). These people have been injured by others’ cruelty. They have difficulty getting...

Peace on earth sounds great, but how will God deal with the problems around us and the problems within us? The first thing Micah tells us here is that God will judge, and that this judgement will have two parts.

First, God will resolve disp...

“The house of the LORD” is the temple, and the temple in the Old Testament was the place where God’s presence came down on the earth. God had said that He would meet with His people at the ark of the covenant (Exodus 25:22).

The ark was hou...

Micah is describing total disarmament—something that’s never been seen in world history—all bombs exploded, all weapons eliminated, all training camps closed, all prisons emptied, and all national defence budgets reallocated.

Now, of course...

For twenty years Micah preached and prayed, and watched things move from bad to worse among the people that he loved, but he was faithful in doing what God had entrusted him to do.

God called Micah to speak and pray, and that’s what he did....

If you had heard Micah speak the words of this prophecy, you would have felt completely hopeless. But the wonderful thing is that it didn’t actually happen for another 100 years. If you want to know why, turn to Jeremiah 26.

The city of Jer...