Micah for You: Acting Justly, Loving Mercy (God’s Word for You | GWFY)

Top Highlights

“Here’s a working definition of misused power: it is taking the influence God has given you for the sake of the common good, and using it against others for selfish gain.” (Page 46)

“Spiritually, that is the sort of idolatry that is adulterous. These people are saying, ‘God, we want to enjoy all the benefits of knowing you and being loved by you, and we do love you too—but we also want to be free to worship other things, too, because they make us happy.’ When we see their idolatry (and ours) in this way, we begin to see why God abhors it. We begin to grasp why God is angry over it. We begin to see why God speaks into this idolatry with judgment—because humans have such a strong attachment to their idols. There can be no rescue if there is not first removal of the objects of our idolatry. And, for the people in Micah’s day, that would come through judgment.” (Pages 19–20)

“Modern people have been brought up to find the notion of God’s judgment very difficult. We like to hear about the mercy, forgiveness, grace, and love of God—but not his judgment, his wrath, or his anger. But the Bible clearly teaches that the God of mercy, forgiveness, grace, and love is at the same time the God who demonstrates anger and shows judgment against idolatry and idolaters.” (Page 17)

“Beth-le-aphrah,’ means the ‘house of dust’ (v 10). Micah says to them, Guess what? You’re going to ultimately roll yourselves in dust. He refers to ‘Shaphir’ (v 11). The meaning of that word is ‘beauty town,’ and yet Micah tells them that they are going to live in nakedness and shame. ‘Zaanan’ means ‘going forth town,’ but Micah says, ‘Do not come out.’ ‘Beth-ezel’ means a ‘house of taking away,’ yet they ‘shall take away from you its standing place’ (see Waltke, Micah, page 154). Micah uses deliberate puns to describe the ironic nature of the eventual destruction: the very thing that each place worships will be the source of its destruction and the place where its judgment is most clearly seen.” (Page 22)