{"id":9091,"date":"2020-05-07T20:00:38","date_gmt":"2020-05-08T03:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=9091"},"modified":"2020-05-03T17:00:08","modified_gmt":"2020-05-04T00:00:08","slug":"micah_6_1-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/micah_6_1-16\/","title":{"rendered":"The Comfort of God\u2019s Staff and Rod"},"content":{"rendered":"

Micah 6:1-16 \u00a0\u00a0Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Today\u2019s passage is Micah 6:1-16.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

Micah 6:1-5 (NIV)\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>
\n1\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Listen to what the\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: “Stand up, plead your case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say.
\n2\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Hear, O mountains, the\u00a0LORD’s accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For the\u00a0LORD\u00a0has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel.
\n3\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0“My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember [your journey] from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the\u00a0LORD.”<\/em><\/p>\n

On verses 1-5:\u00a0 Micah sees a vision of the Lord.\u00a0 In this vision, like an attorney in a courtroom speaking to a jury, the Lord speaks to the mountains about his case against Israel (v1-2).\u00a0 The Lord then addresses Israel directly, asking what it is that God has done to burden them (v3) and recalling His goodness to them:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • how He brought them out of slavery in Egypt (v4);<\/li>\n
  • how three times He kept the seer Balaam from cursing Israel and used him to bless Israel instead (v5);<\/li>\n
  • how He led them from Shittim, which was the Israelites\u2019 last campsite before crossing the Jordan River, to Gilgal, the Israelites\u2019 first campsite after crossing the Jordan River (v5)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    God did all of this so that His people would know the righteous acts and faithfulness of the Lord.<\/p>\n

    What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0When you are tempted to focus on all that is wrong with your life, remember all the ways in the past that God has been undeservedly good to you.<\/strong>\u00a0 Notice that in each case God showed His love not just with words but with action.<\/p>\n

    Micah 6:6-8 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
    \n6\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0With what shall I come before the\u00a0LORD\u00a0and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
    \n7\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Will the\u00a0LORD\u00a0be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
    \n8\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the\u00a0LORD\u00a0require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.<\/em><\/p>\n

    On verses 6-8:\u00a0 Just as God showed His love to Israel not just with His words but with His actions (v1-5), God wants us to love Him not just with our words but with our actions too.\u00a0 God wants from us not a token offering or a ritualistic sacrifice, but rather a life where we act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with Him (v8).\u00a0 God doesn\u2019t want a lavish show of sacrifice as much as He wants a heart that is truly committed to pleasing Him.<\/p>\n

    Micah 6:9 (NIV)<\/strong>
    \n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Listen! The\u00a0LORD\u00a0is calling to the city– and to fear your name is wisdom– “Heed the rod and the One who appointed it.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

    On verse 9:\u00a0 From this one verse are numerous truths to learn:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. \u201cListen!\u201d: The question is not, \u201cIs God speaking?\u201d but \u201cAre we listening?\u201d<\/li>\n
    2. \u201cThe Lord is calling to the city\u201d: God has a heart not just for individuals but for cities.<\/li>\n
    3. \u201cto fear your name is wisdom\u201d: Repeatedly the Bible tells us that \u201cthe fear of the Lord\u201d (that is, to trust, honour and revere God) \u201cis the beginning of wisdom\u201d (Job 28:28; Psalm 111:10; Proverbs 1:7; Proverbs 9:10; Isaiah 33:6)<\/li>\n
    4. \u201cHeed the rod and the One who appointed it\u201d:\u00a0 David once wrote about God His Shepherd, \u201cYour rod and Your staff, they comfort me.\u201d (Psalm 23:4)\u00a0 The rod represents God\u2019s discipline.\u00a0 The staff represents God\u2019s leadership and protection.\u00a0 The staff tends to be a lot more comfortable than the rod, but we need both.\u00a0 While verses 1 to 5 tell us to remember the staff of God\u2019s goodness, verse 9 tells us to heed the rod of God\u2019s discipline too.\u00a0 How?\u00a0 By having a teachable attitude.\u00a0 Whenever you go through tough times, with an open heart ask the Lord, \u201cWhat are you teaching me through this?\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Micah 6:10-16 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
      \n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Am I still to forget, O wicked house, your ill-gotten treasures and the short ephah, which is accursed?
      \n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Shall I acquit a man with dishonest scales, with a bag of false weights?
      \n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Her rich men are violent; her people are liars and their tongues speak deceitfully.
      \n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore, I have begun to destroy you, to ruin you because of your sins.
      \n14\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You will eat but not be satisfied; your stomach will still be empty. You will store up but save nothing, because what you save I will give to the sword.
      \n15\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You will plant but not harvest; you will press olives but not use the oil on yourselves, you will crush grapes but not drink the wine.
      \n16\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0You have observed the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house, and you have followed their traditions. Therefore I will give you over to ruin and your people to derision; you will bear the scorn of the nations.”
      \n<\/em>
      \nOn verses 10-16:\u00a0 These verses help us understand better why the Lord warned His people in verses 6-8 to focus on acting justly, loving mercy and walking humbly instead of giving lavish shows of material sacrifice.\u00a0 It\u2019s because the Israelites had been fooled into thinking that they could play the worship game \u2013 where you look and sound spiritual by the way you sacrifice at the temple, but the rest of the week you do business dishonestly and live deceitfully (v10-13).<\/p>\n

      Verses 13-16 show what happens when we reduce our worship to a weekend ritual and don\u2019t live every day for God\u2019s glory: we will not be satisfied (v14), we will work hard but feel we have very little (v14-15), and we become both a laughingstock and a stumbling block to an unbelieving world (v16).<\/p>\n

      Heavenly Father, thank You for showing me that You desire not just a token sacrifice, but a heart that is close to You and that wants to honour You in everything I do. Thank You for all Your goodness to me, for not just Your staff but for Your rod as well.\u00a0 Thank You for teaching me that when I live for myself I will come up empty and unsatisfied, but when I live for You I am as blessed as can be.\u00a0 In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

      <\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

      Today\u2019s passage is Micah 6:1-16.\u00a0 Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

      Micah 6:1-5 (NIV)\u00a0
      \n1\u00a0\u00a0Listen to what the\u00a0LORD\u00a0says: “Stand up, plead your case before the mountains; let the hills hear what you have to say.\u00a0
      \n2\u00a0\u00a0Hear, O mountains, the\u00a0LORD’s accusation; listen, you everlasting foundations of the earth. For the\u00a0LORD\u00a0has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel.\u00a0
      \n3\u00a0\u00a0“My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me.\u00a0
      \n4\u00a0\u00a0I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam.\u00a0
      \n5\u00a0\u00a0My people, remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember [your journey] from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the\u00a0LORD.”<\/p>\n

      On verses 1-5:\u00a0 Micah sees a vision of the Lord.\u00a0 In this vision, like an attorney in a courtroom speaking to a jury, the Lord speaks to the mountains about his case against Israel (v1-2).\u00a0 The Lord then addresses Israel directly, asking what it is that God has done to burden them (v3) and recalling His goodness to them:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9091"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9094,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9091\/revisions\/9094"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}