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The Good Life
We only live the truly "good life" by walking humbly in Christ, so we must remember who God is, what He does, and do and love the same (verses 1-8).
Micah warned Israel and Judah of God's coming judgment for their selfish and habitual disobedience, and shared the good news of God's faithfulness to preserve and bless His faithful remnant. Now God moves into the courtroom where He'll induct Judah in their stubborn, rebellious, and selfish sinfulness. God calls His people to plead their case before the mountains who bear witness against their disobedience, having also witnessed their covenant with Him. He pleads passionately with them to give Him answers to help Him understand why they've acted so rebelliously and selfishly against Him. Then He calls them to remember that He freed them from slavery in Egypt through mighty and miraculous works. He gave them godly leadership to guide them, even as they grumbled and rebelled. When their enemies tried to come against them and curse them, He prevented them from being cursed. When the second generation was ready to enter the Promised Land, He stopped up the Jordan River for them to cross over and take the land. All He has done is bless them. So, how do the people plead? They essentially ask God what it is they need to do in order to keep Him off their backs. Do they need to "bow" before Him more, or live in greater servile obedience to Him? Do they need to give Him more offerings and sacrifices, even their best calves, all their rams, and a deluge of oil so that they have none? Do they need to commit child sacrifice and give God their children? They're "religious" enough and don't understand what His problem is. Their response is selfish, prideful, and manipulative. Their defense is a testimony to their selfish reality. They just want to know what God wants from them in order to give them what they want so they can live the good life. So Micah tells them what God wants from them. The "good life" is being vessels of God's character into the world around us, the way He's shown it to us. They're to "do justice" by living with integrity, honesty, and great concern for the weak and disadvantaged. In our culture, seeking justice has been reduced to seeking to get our way in a particular set of circumstances. But justice isn't about people getting their way. It's about seeking to make sure God has His way in all things. They're to love kindness or mercy by acting in loyal and merciful love, grace, and forgiveness towards others. This is the complete opposite of the testimony of the lives of those in Judah and those in the world today. How rare is it to see us practicing true love, mercy, grace, and forgiveness towards others like Jesus did towards us? And because the only way to do justice and love mercy is to live for God first, they must walk humbly with God. The antidote to pride and selfishness is humbly submitting to Jesus' Lordship of our lives because we know no one loves us like He does. Only when He's the Lord of our lives will we truly testify to Him in the lives of others and experience the fullness of His blessings.
We only live the truly "good life" by walking humbly in Christ, so we must understand that living any other way will only lead to frustration, dissatisfaction, and destruction (verses 9-16).
Judah didn't really care what God wanted. They only cared about their own desires. So God accuses them of habitually desiring and doing wickedness and violence, loving deceit and theft, and walking in falsehood and pride. His sentence was already being meted out against them, but they were so self-absorbed they didn't realize it. Since they desire their own sinful ways more than God's way for them, He gave them what they wanted. They might delight in their sin at first, but they'll gorge themselves on it and become sick and desolate. As they get more and more of what they want, it'll satisfy them less and less. As they try to store up a surplus, they'll never be able to save, and will lose what they do have to their enemies. They'll plant and work, but never harvest anything. Their selfish pride will lead them into the wicked ways of Omri and Ahab in Israel, and they'll experience the same destruction and humiliation when they are conquered and exiled. The same sentence is being carried out today because our culture walks in the same selfish and prideful rebellion, even among those who claim to be "religious." Instead of obtaining the "good life," they're slowly acquiring frustration, dissatisfaction, and destruction in every area of their lives. But God calls us to walk humbly in Him, love mercy, and do justice. He calls us to live His "good life" in order to show the world that there's still true hope of satisfaction and life for all those who repent and trust in Christ!
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