Micah

Is God loving?  Is he compassionate, merciful, and willing to forgive sins?

Or is God just?  Is he holy, righteous, and going to punish sins?

Yes, he is.  God is loving AND just, and Micah shows this very clearly.  For instance,

speaks stern words of judgment,

“Therefore thus says the Lord:
behold, against this family I am devising disaster,
from which you cannot remove your necks,
and you shall not walk haughtily,

for it will be a time of disaster.”

Yikes!  But

says these amazingly comforting words,

“He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.”

Too many people want God to be in a box.  They want to slap the label of “wrath” or “grace” on him and move on.  They think he must be one or the other because perfect love and perfect justice cannot coexist in one person.

Once again, God blows the human mind.  He is perfectly just, and he will judge sin with a righteous fury.  Yet at the same time, he is gracious and compassionate, and he wants to forgive people for their sins.

How do these seemingly contrasting character traits work together?  Is God some cosmic schizophrenic?  Absolutely not!  In fact, the most perfect expression of God’s love and justice is found in somebody that Micah talks about…someone that Micah prophesied would be born in the town of Bethlehem.  We know that someone is Jesus Christ, and God is so righteous that he had to punish sin by pouring out his wrath on his Son, but God is also so gracious that he punished sin by pouring out his wrath on his Son instead of those who believe.

So as we begin to read Micah, prepare for your own mind to be blown by our just and loving God.  Micah is made up of three main sections: Chapters 1-2, 3-5, and 6-7.  (That’s how we will break it up as we read!) Each one begins with harsh words of impending judgment but ends with soft promises of future grace.  God did judge his people through the Assyrians and the Babylonians, but he also had a plan for future restoration.  This plan centers on Jesus Christ, who already came as a baby in Bethlehem but will return again as a King in the clouds.

Buckle your seatbelts, everyone! We’re reading the first section of Micah today!