One Thing

A series on the book of Micah
Week 5 – What does the Lord require?
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Micah 6:1-16 

[In the book “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, Robert Louis Stevenson explores the struggle between good and evil in human nature. “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.]

  

Growing up, I went to church every week. Back then, we didn’t have children’s church. So as a little boy I had to find ways to entertain myself – particularly during the sermon. My most common distraction was to create “pretend battles” on the folds of my pants. Needless to say, church was just a ritual for me.

 

In this chapter, Micah wrote to the Israelites who had turned their faith into a series of meaningless rituals. To make this point, he rhetorically asked, would it please the Lord if you offered him “thousands of rams and ten thousand rivers of olive oil”. Or if you “sacrifice your firstborn children to pay for your sins”.

 

He answered his own question with a resounding “NO”! And then he explained what would please the Lord.

 

⁸ He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?        ESV   

 

Unfortunately, many of the Israelites had already not only gutted their worship with mindless rituals but also turned their backs on God in rebellion. This was obvious through their actions.

 

¹⁰ What shall I say about the homes of the wicked
    filled with treasures gained by cheating?
What about the disgusting practice
    of measuring out grain with dishonest measures?             NLT  

 

Continuing, Micah went on to describe how the rich used extortion and violence; how the people were so used to lying that they couldn’t discern the truth; how officials and judges took bribes. Even close friends and family weren’t to be trusted!

 

"Do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God”. What would these words mean to a little boy trying to get through a sermon, or to an old man whose heard thousands of sermons? Below are two different translations of a verse in Romans that give Paul’s perspective on how to please the Lord.

 

¹ So then, my friends, because of God's great mercy to us I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer.        GNT

 

¹ So here’s what I want you to do, with God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering.             MSG  

 

In the 1991 movie City Slickers, Curly, played by Jack Palance, told Billy Crystal’s character "Do you know what the secret of life is? It's one thing... just one thing. And that's what you've got to figure out".

 

For you and me as followers of Christ, the “one thing” is to offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to God. If we do that, then our faith will less likely be a ritual, and more likely we’ll experience the presence of the living God.

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

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