Micah 3:5-12 (NRSV)
Read Micah 3:5-12 on biblegateway.com
Verse 5Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who cry "Peace" when they have something to eat, but declare war against those who put nothing into their mouths. Verse 6Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without revelation. The sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be black over them; Verse 7the seers shall be disgraced, and the diviners put to shame; they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God.
Verse 8But as for me, I am filled with power, with the spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. Verse 9Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob and chiefs of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert all equity, Verse 10who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with wrong! Verse 11Its rulers give judgment for a bribe, its priests teach for a price, its prophets give oracles for money; yet they lean upon the Lord and say, "Surely the Lord is with us! No harm shall come upon us." Verse 12Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.
Devotion
Is there a prophet in your pulpit on Sundays? Does that prophet have a word from God for you, not just some words about God? What does this word do for you? Reading the words of the Lord's prophets may have the same effect. There are warning there, as well as comfort and hope. The prophet may not really want to rebuke you. But, like Micah, the Lord may call that spokesperson to do so. What a dark day if no prophet speaks for God. We are all sinners as Luther told us, and we need to regularly confess this to the Lord. Then, wonder of wonders, a word of forgiveness and grace, as in the absolution each Sunday, is on the prophet's lips. Micah's hearers did not heed him and, as a result, something over a century later, Jerusalem lay in ruins.
Prayer
Living Lord, you have done so much for us, your people. You have high expectation of us as a result. Yet we often fail to listen to you. Save us from ourselves. Amen.