Judgment and Restoration, Day 11 Prophecy. Read Micah 5:1-9. As part of a discussion on judgment and restoration, it’s important to realize that God was moving forward with true and complete restoration. Here we see a prophecy telling of the coming of Jesus Christ. When we read in Matthew about the wise men asking Herod’s men where the king would be born, this passage is one of them that indicates bethlehem as the city. We see here that God foretold this to the people, even this long ago. Yes, they were going to go through judgment because of their sins, but God was promising a way that they could have…

Judgment and Restoration, Day 10 Unknowing. Read Micah 4:9-13. When it comes to knowing and understanding the plan of God, a lot of times we don’t. God has a way of moving and working in situations that we just completely do not expect. Our logic only takes us so far, and everything that we work through and concoct to try to know and understand God’s plan can never take into account all of the pieces of information that God has. He alone truly sees the big picture and understands the best plan for moving forward. We can look at our situation and think that everything is okay. And yet, God…

Judgment and Restoration, Day 9 True restoration. Read Micah 4:6-8. What does restoration really mean? The idea of restoration is that something is restored to what it was before. People can only really be restored once we understand that God created us in the first place. His ability to recreate us through Jesus Christ is what restores us. The people of Israel had been an incredible and great nation before. However, their sin and the judgment that was coming on them because of their sin was resulting in them experiencing judgment. God was promising to restore them. They would be as they once were. Often we don’t think about or…

Judgment and Restoration, Day 8 What is the difference between judgment and restoration? Choice. Read Micah 4:1-5. As we read the first part of Micah chapter 4, we see God is looking at restoring the people. God is the one that we are to be seeking after and following. What makes the difference between a life that comes under judgment and a lofe that experiences the restoration of God? A choice. We must choose to follow God in everything that we do. Are we choosing to follow Jesus Christ in every area of our life? That is the choice that matters. That is the choice that we will be held…

Judgment and Restoration, Day 7 The Lord’s Blessing? Read Micah 3:8-12. So many people just seem to do whatever they want to and then tack on an, “Oh, by the way Lord, bless this!” onto whatever they are doing. They’ve not sought the Lord. They’ve not confirmed that what they’re doing is God’s will. But yet, they want to be able to say that God is blessing what they are doing. That is where the people of Israel were at this point. They were involved a lot of awful things, and doing several things that God actually says you shouldn’t do, including accepting bribes and extorting money from people, and…

Judgment and Restoration, Day 6 Lousy leadership. Read Micah 3:1-7. The leadership in Israel is not helping matters. Unfortunately, what they have become is a group of self-centered individuals who are only looking out for their own personal gain. They prophesy good things when people are nice to them, and they prophesy destruction when people are mean to them. Their statements have nothing to do with the power of God or the authority of his word. They are solely about themselves. When leadership forgets where their power comes from (the Lord), they quickly lose their effectiveness as a leader. Leadership positions are to be a reflection of how Christ leads…

Judgment and Restoration, Day 5 Together. Read Micah 2:12-13. Here we see the first discussion about restoration in Micah. Up to this point it’s been all about the judgment that is coming, but here we see that God is intending to use this judgment as a way to then restore the people of Israel. The idea of bringing a flock together is a beautiful picture of safety and security. God is our safety and security, and he is bringing us together and will ensure that we are where we need to be when we need to be there. God is our shepherd. God is the only one who can restore…

Judgment and Restoration, Day 4 Denial. Read Micah 2:6-11. “We don’t want to hear about the bad things we’ve done. We don’t want to know that judgment is coming.” These are the statements that the people of Israel are making because they want to continue to be in denial. You see, they like the things that they are doing and they don’t see anything wrong with them. Even though God has said these are against him and this is disobedience, the people don’t want to change. When we are faced with the reality of our sin, we have a choice to make. We can either accept that the sin is…

Judgment and Restoration, Day 2 Broken. Read Micah 1:8-16. As Micah introduces the idea of judgment on the people of Israel, we see just how broken he is about their judgment. He is completely devastated. He cannot stand the idea that God’s people are going to suffer the judgment that God is sharing with him. Are we broken by sin? Are we broken by the sin we see in our own lives and by the sin we see in others’ lives? What is our response to sin? Yesterday we saw that even the mountains will crumble in comparison with God’s glory. How will we respond? Will we become crumbled and…