Conceiving Wickedness Upon Their Bed
I think that this is my new favorite phrase of the day. I enjoy this phrase because it has nothing to
do with what it originally sounds like.
Micah begins chapter 2 with a judgment of people who lay awake at night
thinking up schemes for them to do evil the next day. But let’s be careful and make sure we
understand what Micah looks upon as evil.
In the verses that follow this judgment he talks about people who figure
out ways to “attain” things simply because they want them. Evil is lusting after the desires of your
heart.
Micah is laying out a judgment against the people in his day who
have a “looking out for number one” attitude.
These are the people who are attempting to increase their fame or power
or stature simply for the sake of increasing it. They aren’t taking the time to discern if it
is God’s will. They aren’t approaching life
or business with a mindset of community.
It is about them, their prosperity, their success, and their fame. The evil that Micah is denouncing in these
opening verses is self-centeredness in life and business.
People in Micah’s day were conceiving plans to take over the homes
and livelihoods of their neighbor simply to increase their land. It honestly sounds like people in Micah’s day
were simply thinking of ways to separate a person from their wealth so that
they could have it for themselves. In
many respects, what I fear is that this sounds like modern business
practice. Many businesses today simply
want me to spend my money with them.
They don’t honestly care what happens to me. So long as they get my money, that’s their
bottom line. {We won’t even speak about illegal practices like stealing, embezzling,
etc}
When a society is founded upon the principles of economic gain as
opposed to combining concerns for both prosperity and community there will be
trouble from God’s perspective. When we
as a people stop looking towards the community, we can expect the same to be
done to us as we do to ourselves. The
people of Israel and Judah would have their land taken away by Assyria and
Babylon in the same manner as the Hebrew people of Micah’s day took land and
livelihood away from each other.
Yes, there is nothing wrong with good business. But godly business is business that looks to
make a profit by providing a legitimate service or product in a manner that is
beneficial to the further livelihood of the consumer. Godly business is business that shows a
balance between profit and health of the community at large.
Religious Dialogue
Isn’t it interesting to hear how people respond to the prophet’s
voice? In verse 6 we hear Micah talk
about what is said to him when he utters a judgment such as he offered at the
beginning of this chapter. He is told, “Don’t
say that to us. God’s spirit would never
oppose and disgrace us.”
Ha! We know from history which
voice is correct. You see, we like to
believe that we’re okay. We like to
believe that our problems aren’t that bad.
We like to believe that we won’t be the generation that falls. But we know that eventually every nation has
fallen. Every nation has a gradual slide
into decline until we fall into the judgment of our own making. It is tempting to bury our heads in the sand
and say, “We’ll be okay while I’m alive.”
While tempting, it is foolish. God
takes up issue with those who think that the problems of society “aren’t that
bad.” God’s Word is good to those whose
ways are upright.
You see, this is the difference between a nation with vision and a
nation suffering from instant gratification.
The nation with vision listens to the warnings of the prophets and
corrects course to avoid not just the short-term problems but the long-term
problems. The nation with a policy of
instant gratification only thinks about living in the bliss of today and eventually
ends up unable to avoid the long-term problems and even many of the short-term
problems!
Hope
However, as bleak as the middle of this chapter is with respect to
judgment the passage ends on a note of hope.
Although Micah says, “this is no place to rest, because of uncleanness
that destroys with a grievous destruction,” he does end with a prophecy that “I
will gather the remnant of Israel; I will
set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture.” Yes, there will be judgment. Yes, the judgment will be deserved. But to the faithful who persevere through
judgment there is a promise of being re-gathered. There is a promise of being shepherded once
more.
This is one of my favorite characteristics about God. Even though an entire nation might genuinely
deserve judgment – even deserve utter destruction – God still finds those
faithful few. He pulls them out, raises
them up, and starts again. God’s
patience is astounding.
<><
No comments:
Post a Comment