Since I post only once a month, I thought I would share this brief devotional as a way to get a good start on the reason we have hope that is always available.
Micah was a prophet who comes with very little context and very few words—especially when compared to the extensive texts of the likes of Isaiah and Jeremiah. He was probably Judean and he lived in the terrible time when most of his fellow Israelites were exiled, banished and abused by the domineering and cruel Babylonians. As any prophet filled by God, the words Micah spoke describe the realities of doom in the present and coming wrath that was the direct consequence of Israel’s sin—the reason for the exile and domination by a pagan nation. But in this small book we see that the messages of judgment and punishment are balanced by the ever-reaching messages of hope. As you read the entire book of Micah, you can see the antiphonal messages of judgment and hope bouncing back and forth, with the final count falling to hope.
Like lamps hung in a long, dark hallway, the messages of hope appear small, especially in respect to the terrible times they were living in, but they do appear. As a single candle lit can be seen across a vast dark plain, God’s messages of hope guided those swallowed in darkness. These small beacons begin to describe a new and better, although distant, future. Chief among these are found in 5:2-4 where we read:
2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”
3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned
until the time when she who is in labor bears a son,
and the rest of his brothers return
to join the Israelites.
4 He will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth.
For many generations of Israelites, and now Gentiles, we recognize what Micah only experienced in visions and prophecies. From the humble birth in a non-descript small town, a tiny group of shepherds saw the Light of the world begin to live among us. His light filled a humble stable and began to radiate out into Nazareth, Capernaum, Galilee and continues to expand and grow in ways that few in Micah’s time could have even imagined, but in ways they surely hoped for.
While our days may seem shrouded in the darkness of war, disease and cultural upheaval, may we all cling to the hope in the prophecy-now-revealed that Jesus Christ is the Light of the World and his light will reach the ends of the earth!
Amen
© M.R.Hyde 2022
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