epcblog

Devotional thoughts (Monday through Thursday mornings) from the pastor of Exeter Presbyterian Church in Exeter, NH // Sunday Worship 10:30am // 73 Winter Street

Thursday, October 02, 2008

Micah 3

God has given some people extraordinary gifts of being able to influence others, moving them in one direction or another. While some of this can be learned or improved, much of it is a matter of personality, temperament, and character. We call this leadership. The Lord has also placed people in positions of responsibility over others. We call this authority. There are some who have gifts of leadership, but they are not in positions of authority. Others are in positions of authority, but they do not have strong gifts of leadership. Most people have neither leadership nor authority. Some few have both. Among the Lord’s Old Testament people, God expected those with leadership and those in authority to use whatever abilities they had in order to know and pursue something called justice.

Justice has to do with right and wrong. It has something to do with the guilty being appropriately punished and the innocent who may be falsely charged with wrong-doing being vindicated. Those in authority, particularly those who are especially gifted leaders, need to pursue justice with a sense of love for those who they are called to protect. They need to see their duty before God to care for those who may be neither gifted leaders or in any position of power. There are various reasons why some people are weaker than others. Those who are the stronger ones need to love the weak, and to care for them as an act of reverence for the Lord. After all, the Lord is most definitely in authority over all, and He is the greatest of all loving leaders.

Those who should have been serving the weak lovingly in Israel were treating people like meat to be consumed. This was most unwise. A person may be very rich, but there is someone else who is richer still. A person may be crafty and powerful, but there is some else who could gain the upper hand. When we abuse those we should be caring for, cannot the God who loves justice recognize our guilt and send others who would move armies in a mission against us, men who could easily be placed in authority over us? What will God do when we cry out to him then, we who have ignored the cry of the poor for justice? Micah said that the Lord would hide His face from wicked rulers who were over the Lord’s people.

In every society there are some who have a role of teaching others, particularly on those issues of life that of necessity deal with our relationship to the divine. These prophets have a special role of understanding spiritual realms that others may not understand, and of communicating the truth from God to the people. There were many of these prophets in Israel and Judah, but there were some who used their position as teachers to move people away from God and His truth. They declared that the people had peace with God, provided that their customers gave the prophets something to eat, but when the poor man came, they claimed that God was unhappy. Yet this role of speaking for the Lord of glory is not a game. There really is a realm of glory above in some dimension that is beyond our ability to regularly visit and walk in according to our own will. The Ruler over heaven can bring messages to His people, or He can shut off all communication to those who would be self-serving prophets. As the Lord is the Judge over all supposed kings, He will also insist that He is the God over all prophets.

Micah was a true prophet, and He brought a true Word from God for those who would be abusive rulers, false teachers, and greedy priests. They should know that they would have to answer to the Lord for their haughty presumption and their abuse of the weak. They should not think that everything was fine with the Lord, when the Lord’s people were being mistreated by those who should have been nursing fathers and mothers to them. The Lord would plow Zion as a field. Jerusalem would become a heap of ruins, and the temple mount, a place where wild trees would take over as if no men were in charge to order nature for the common good and the glory of the Lord.

Most people are not born leaders and they do not have great authority over others. They are not gifted teachers that many long to follow, nor are they able to be of obvious help to others who are facing trouble with sin or the miseries of this world. Most people belong to the mass of humanity that is led by others, taught by others, and represented by others before the Lord God. What they long for is a better prophet, priest, and king; one who would truly use his gifts and position for their good. They long for someone who would love them, and who would have the wisdom and strength to make a difference in their lives as they go through this world which is under the curse of Almighty God. Even if such a friend could be found, most people long for something more than this life, though they may not know how to put their longing into words. They need a friend who can take them beyond death. They can readily find an enemy in a land of hatred who would gladly give them death and take from them all that they are worth, but is there any friend who could actually bring them a life that would last beyond the grave?

This is what Christ has done for us. He is the Prophet, Priest, and King from God. He has given His life for us, that we might have abundant life. He did not come to kill His sheep. He is the Good Shepherd. He did not come to teach false lessons of fear and flattery to gullible minds. He is the True Prophet. He did not come to take away your wealth, but to take upon Himself Your spiritual poverty and to grant to You His rich righteousness and His glorious bounty. He brings life to millions who need a real Leader, one who can take them into a world of eternal life.

posted by Pastor Magee @ 12:00 AM

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