Stop It Micah!
The prophet Micah gives some strong words from God to his chosen people. Although Micah’s proclamation—his prophecy—should convict them, instead they take offense.
At one point the people even tell him to stop talking—they say, “Stop it Micah”—as if his silence would keep God’s plans from happening.
Micah’s sarcastic retort is that if a prophet proclaimed plenty of wine and beer for everyone, the people would flock to him. Apparently, rather than face the truth, the people prefer to anesthetize themselves from it.
We aren’t much different today. We flock to pastors who give us feel-good messages that overflow with positive platitudes and memorable sound bites.
However, when a pastor must deliver a God-honoring message that criticizes us or convicts our conscience, we often turn on our teacher.
We may attack the messenger, attempt to remove them, or run off to sit under the teaching of someone who will make us feel good about ourselves.
Our reaction is to respond as consumers, leaving the teacher of an unpalatable message and seeking someone who will tell us what we want to hear.
That’s approaching faith with a consumerism mindset: looking for what is pleasant and nice—even if it’s wrong. It happened to Micah and it’s still happening today.
Telling the people what they want to hear—as opposed to the truth—is making a false prophecy.
Regarding these false prophets, Micah further notes that when the prophets are fed, they pronounce that peace will occur, but if they don’t say what the people want, the people turn against them.
How much does money affect what our ministers today say or don’t say?
[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Micah 1-4, and today’s post is on Micah 2:6.]
Learn more about all twelve of the Bible’s Minor Prophets in Peter’s book, Return to Me: 40 Prophetic Teachings about Unfaithfulness, Punishment, and Hope from the Minor Prophets
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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