S139P7 – Profiles in courage: Micah
Mic. 3:1-3
And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice? — you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin from off my people and their flesh from off their bones, who eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones in pieces and chop them up like meat in a pot, like flesh in a cauldron.
I think all mafia movies are pretty much the same. Sure, some are fiction while others are true stories. The characters are not all the same, and each story has its own plot points. Some of these stories are simply a cautionary tale while others provide some kind of hope for redemption. Yet, despite all these differences, there is always a common theme. Those who are practicing evil for the sake of ill-gotten gains do not want to lose. They will do whatever it takes to protect what they have built even though their methods are evil. They will justify these measures by claiming simply to be protecting themselves, but the truth is much different, and this is the world in which Micah existed.
Micah is one of those prophets who had to call out his fellow brothers for their evil ways. Other prophets during his time were not speaking God’s words but were manipulating their positions for money and power. Several verses after this passage, Micah speaks of prophets who say sweet words to those who reward them but declare war against those who do not. [v. 5] Chapter two of this book speaks of those in power oppressing the weak by taking their land. Just like the mobsters who will turn against each other for their own gain, God’s people began to do the same thing. Micah had to be the prophet to correct the others who were using their position and power for evil gains.
When we operate in the giftings God gives us, we are in a position of service to the body. Micah experienced a time when those who had his same gifting were using their position to oppress the very people they should have been serving. The evil precedent had been set, and he had to speak against it. We surely have seen the same hubris and abuse of power manifest itself in Church history, but we cannot settle for the status quo when we see it today. We must discern what the Lord wants us to do to combat such evil and then have the courage to do it. Father, keep us from being corrupted by the gifts You give us, and make us brave to stand up against any corruption of these gifts we see in the body.