A Small Package

A series on the book of Micah
Week 4 – The coming Messiah
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Micah 5:2-15 

[In the book “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, Robert Louis Stevenson explores the struggle between good and evil in human nature. “Two sides of the same coin”, if you will. Similarly, Micah contrasts God’s hatred of sin but his love for sinners. In this series, we will look at both sides of God’s character and what that means for us today.]

  

As a little boy, one of my most memorable Christmas gifts was from my older brother. He was in college and didn’t have much money, so he had to be creative. As a result, he got 100 shiny new pennies and placed each penny in an envelope. Then he strung twenty sets of five envelopes each and hung them from the living room ceiling near the Christmas tree.

 

When I woke up in the darkness of early morning and went downstairs with great anticipation of the gifts that were waiting for me, I had no idea what my brother had created. As I rounded the corner, I couldn’t believe my eyes! It was a magical Christmas scene with all the envelopes hanging from the ceiling.

 

Like previous chapters in Micah, this one also tells the story of how God hates sin but loves the sinner. In a society where the powerful oppressed the powerless and promoted idol worship, Micah boldly proclaimed the Lord’s judgment for the end times, but with implications for the current culture.

 

¹⁵ I will take vengeance in anger and wrath
    on the nations that have not obeyed me.”    NIV

 

Micah also brought a message of hope from the Lord who promised to provide peace and deliverance for a remnant of Israel. In the following verses Assyria represents the enemies/evil, not only that Israel faced during Micah’s time, but also that we face.

 

^5a And he will be our peace
    when the Assyrians invade our land
    and march through our fortresses.

^6b He will deliver us from the Assyrians
    when they invade our land
    and march across our borders.            NIV

 

Finally, Micah prophesied about a ruler that one day would come to shepherd his people “with the Lord’s strength and majesty”.

 

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.”       NIV

 

Like my Christmas gift, sometimes the best gift comes in a small package – or in my case, envelopes. But in the case of Micah’s prophecy, the small package would arrive in the form of a baby boy, born out of wedlock in a stable in the small rural town of Bethlehem.

 

It was over 600 years before Micah’s prophecy of a shepherd/ruler was fulfilled. It’s been over 2000 years since then. God was faithful then and he is faithful now. “He is the same yesterday, today and forever”.

 

²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.        ESV    Lamentations 3

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

In the Fullness of Time

A series on the book of Micah
Week 3 – The Lord’s Plan
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Micah 4:1-5:6 

[In the book “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, Robert Louis Stevenson explores the struggle between good and evil in human nature. “Two sides of the same coin”, if you will. Similarly, Micah contrasts God’s hatred of sin but his love for sinners. In this series, we will look at both sides of God’s character and what that means for us today.]

“God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life”. As a 21-year-old college student whose life had been turned upside down, those words were music to my ears. The person who I had most wanted to love me… had rejected me. As a result, my life seemed to have no rhyme nor reason to it – let alone a plan.

 

However, the realization that God loved me and did have a plan for me, was a pivotal moment. Even though I couldn’t see it at the time, this meant that somehow God had already intervened in my life. The result was to give me new purpose and direction that changed my life forever.

 

We often can’t see how God is at work until after the fact. Yet, the Lord has a plan that is unfolding every day. Although he didn’t know the specifics, Micah prophesied about three different time periods of the Lord’s plan for his kingdom.

 First, he spoke about the last days, and how people from all over the world will come to the Lord’s temple to worship him.

 ² People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.”            NLT

Second, even before coming into power, Micah prophesied that the Babylonians would capture Jerusalem and take the Israelites into exile. But he also foretold that later a remnant of Israel would return.

 

^10b You will soon be sent in exile to distant Babylon. But the Lord will rescue you there; he will redeem you from the grip of your enemies.     NLT

 

Finally, Micah prophesied about a leader, the Messiah, who would one day “shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord”.

 

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.”           NIV

 

As a 75-year-old man in the autumn of my life, God is still at work. He still loves me and has a plan for me. It’s up to me to discern it. What about you?

 

God loves you and has a plan for your life. That plan may not be evident now, but “in the fullness of time”, it will come to fruition.

 

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.                     NIV    Jeremiah 29

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

Power and Control

A series on the book of Micah
Week 2 – God's hatred of sin
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Micah 2-3 

[In the book “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, Robert Louis Stevenson explores the struggle between good and evil in human nature. “Two sides of the same coin”, if you will. Similarly, Micah contrasts God’s hatred of sin but his love for sinners. In this series, we will look at both sides of God’s character and what that means for us today.]

  

Power and control! We all want control over our lives. One small way that you can see my desire for power and control is through how I keep my desk and office. They need to be well organized, not looking like a tornado had just blown through it. It helps me feel in control and I have the power to do it.

 

However, the problem with power is that it can corrupt. You’ve probably come across at least one person where that’s been true. Think of a mall security guard who is overzealous to enforce the rules; or a supervisor who micromanages; or a paper-pushing bureaucrat who enforces the rules capriciously.

 

Micah spoke out against those who were not only rich and powerful, but also used it to take advantage of the poor and downtrodden.

 

² When you want a piece of land,
    you find a way to seize it.
When you want someone’s house,
    you take it by fraud and violence.
You cheat a man of his property,
    stealing his family’s inheritance.       NLT   Micah 2

 

Also, in order to show how the leaders of Israel had no respect or compassion, Micah charged them, figuratively speaking, of cannibalism.

 

^2b You skin my people alive
    and tear the flesh from their bones.
³ Yes, you eat my people’s flesh,
    strip off their skin,
    and break their bones.
You chop them up
    like meat for the cooking pot.  NLT   Micah 3

 

Is it any wonder that the Lord judged Israel and Judah. God declared that He was "devising disaster" against them; a disaster that they couldn’t escape. Micah prophesied God’s judgment which came true when they were invaded by foreign powers. The result? Israel and Judah were exiled from the Promised Land.

 

The Lord hates sin, but he loves the sinner. He always provides a way for redemption. Even with these abuses of power, he gave Israel the promise of a future deliverance and restoration.

 

¹² “Someday, O Israel, I will gather you;
    I will gather the remnant who are left.
I will bring you together again like sheep in a pen,
    like a flock in its pasture.
Yes, your land will again
    be filled with noisy crowds!      NLT   Micah 2

Today, he still provides a way for redemption. Despite our sinfulness he gave you and me the promise of deliverance and restoration through Jesus Christ. Paul put it like this.

 

²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!     NIV    Romans 7

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

Center of Influence

A series on the book of Micah
Week 1 – The judgment of God
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Micah 1:1-16 

[In the book “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, Robert Louis Stevenson explores the struggle between good and evil in human nature. Likewise, Micah contrasts God's hatred of sin but love for sinners. In this series, we will look at both sides of God’s character and what that means for us today.]

  

Big cities tend to be the center of influence. Commerce, culture, technology, government, education, entertainment and fashion often originate in big cities and then spread across the country.

 

Samaria was the capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel. Unfortunately, it had become the center of pagan worship, blending Canaanite religious practices with Israelite traditions. Samaria’s idolatry was graphically described as prostitution. It was a metaphor that illustrated Samaria’s unfaithfulness.

 

Following a vision from the Lord, Micah condemned this rebellious behavior and declared the judgment of God on Samaria.

 

⁶ “So I, the Lord, will make the city of Samaria a heap of ruins.
Her streets will be plowed up for planting vineyards.
I will roll the stones of her walls into the valley below,
    exposing her foundations.
^7a All her carved images will be smashed.
    All her sacred treasures will be burned.      NLT

 

Ominously, the Lord promised to come, and it wasn’t a social call!

 

³ Look! The Lord is coming from his dwelling place;
    he comes down and treads on the heights of the earth.
⁴ The mountains melt beneath him and the valleys split apart,
like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope.   NIV

 

But the depths of depravity in Samaria weren’t restricted by the city limits. Like the cities of America, Samaria was the center of influence. As a result, Samaria’s rebellious behavior spread throughout the northern kingdom into the southern kingdom and its capital of Jerusalem.

 

⁵ And why is this happening?
    Because of the rebellion of Israel—
    yes, the sins of the whole nation.
Who is to blame for Israel’s rebellion?
    Samaria, its capital city!
Where is the center of idolatry in Judah?
    In Jerusalem, its capital!         NLT

 

What can we learn from this? Sin is not static; it’s dynamic. It’s like an addiction that grows progressively worse. It moves from city to city, person to person and even within an individual. Like a cancer, it lives to bring death.

 

Micah’s message is a warning for us today. Peter also gave us some good advice regarding how to live and navigate in a sinful world.

 

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.    NIV    1 Peter 5

 

Like Samaria, we as individuals are a center of influence. We influence those people around us at home, work, school, the grocery store, church – everywhere we go. So, will we be a center of influence like Samaria, or like the light of the world that Jesus spoke of?

 

¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.         NIV    Matthew 5

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com