Nestled in between Jonah giving a forty day warning to Nineveh....and Nahum simply telling Nineveh to prepare for the judgment that was coming right then....is Micah....pointing out to Judah....and its capital Jerusalem....that God had brought down judgment on Israel....and its capital Samaria....for the same things that they themselves were doing!
More than any prophet's book in the Old Testament....more even than any passage in the Old Testament....Micah speaks to us in America. They were wealthy....they were religious....and they were fake. This isn't a thought that just came to mind....the following paragraph is from an August of 2016 post!
"Would you be interested in partaking in a little biblical meditative exercise? The exercise, should you want to do it, is to read the book that is between Jonah and Nahum....the book written by the prophet Micah. Now these words from Micah, once again words of judgment...but also of hope....were to specific people-the people of Judah, but these books are to us also, certainly at least as examples for us to consider what happens when a nation blessed by God then rejects Him. The book is small but take an evening reading it and contemplating each verse, and possibly referencing different translations and a study Bible to help with the changing context. Put America in there as if....as if.... it were written also to us, just to see if our history of blessings and then rejection of our Benefactor is not strikingly similar. And if our rebelliousness is similar, would not the judgment be similar also, and would not the patience extended before judgment be similar...a patience that we may have used up! I'm confident that as you read through Micah you will see many instances where we followed the same path as rebellious Judah. You may even be astonished at times."
We have corprately....on our side of this divide....sadly and shamefully even evangelicals....just wasted one full decade thinking and hoping and even expecting....that we could make America....great again! At the end of every Trump rally he would lead the rally-goers in the cheer....included in his first inauguration in January of 2017...."And we will make America strong again....and we will make America wealthy again....and we will make America proud again....and yes....we will make America....great again!" Folks....brothers and sisters in Christ....he led the same cheer only months ago...if not even more recently than that!
It sounds absurd right now does it not? Well it was absurd in June of 2015 when Trump came down that escalator into the middle of evangelicalism and the church....but God had blinded our eyes because of our transgressions! Trump actually said in that inauguration speech that the divide in America was going to heal....but thanks to him....that divide....that crack....that fissure....is today a great chasm.
Out pulpits have miserably failed us....in not warning us....and we have miserably failed our pulpits....in not demanding more food and sustenance that we might give glory to God. If you read Micah in humility and reverence....you will see our reflection....and you may also see where our hope lies....and in the midst of this chaos....where the world says to the believer...."Where is your God"....we might say as did Micah write....
"Do not rejoice over me; my enemy
When I fall, I will arise.
When I sit in darkness
The Lord will be a light to me." (Micah 7: NKJV)
