Revised Common Lectionary

"I  will look to the Lord. I will wait for God to save me. I will wait for my God to listen to me" (Micah 7:7).  Who is the Lord our God? The answer to this question is found in Micah 6:18-20. We are never wasting our time when we look to the Lord.We are never wasting our time when we wait on Him. He listens to us. He saves us. What wonderful words we have in the last three verses of Micah. God forgives our sin. He overlooks our rebellion. Better than our sin is God's salvation. Better than our rebellion is God's redemption. God is not angry forever. He shows mercy to us. God's wrath was poured out on Christ so that His mercy might be poured out upon us. Jesus took our place. He died for us. He drank, fully, from the cup of our condemnation so that we might drink, fully, from the cup of His salvation. God has compassion on us. He overcomes our wrongdoing. He sees what we are really like. He sees us in our sin. He also sees what we can become. He see...

MICAH 1:1-2:13 We thank You, Lord, that Micah was a fearless preacher of Your Word. His message was not popular: ‘Let the Lord God be a witness against you.’ He was a forthright preacher of Your Word. He knew that the people wouldn’t want to hear what he had to say to them. He demanded that they listen to him. This wasn’t only Micah’s word. It was Your word, Lord. That’s why Micah said, ‘Hear, O peoples, all of you. Listen, O earth and all who are in it’ (Micah 2:2). Teach us, Lord, that we cannot afford to ignore Your Word. Help us to listen to Your Word. You speak Your Word against us. You say to us, ‘You cannot save yourselves’ (Micah 2:3). You speak Your Word against us so that we might learn to rejoice in Your Word of salvation: ‘I will bring you together like sheep returning to the fold’ (Micah 2:12). 3:1-5:1 We thank You, Lord, for the words that Micah speaks to those ‘who hate good and love evil’ (Micah 3:2). He calls upon them to change their way of livi...

Micah 6:8 In Micah 6:8, the question is asked, “What does the Lord require of us?” As well as Micah’s answer, there is a New Testament answer to this question.  * “Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin” (Hebrews 9:22). God calls us to come to the Cross. That’s where the life of faith and obedience begins.  * “Without faith, it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). God calls us to put our faith in Christ. It’s personal faith. Each one of us must come to Jesus - “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine.” Faith is God’s gift. Each one of us must receive His gift.  * “Without holiness, no-one will see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). God is calling us to become more like Jesus. Our life is to be less of self and more of Christ - and we’re to give all the glory to God. Micah 6:8 gives us an Old Testament answer to the question, “What is holiness?”

"I am filled with the power of the Lord's Spirit" (Micah 3:8). This is what makes true ministry of God's Word so different from 'prophecy' that doesn't come from the Lord. Without the power of the Lord, there can be no Word from the Lord. We need the Word, and we need the power. "Let's go to the mountain of the Lord ...He will teach us His ways so that we may live by them" (Micah 4:2). We are taught by the Lord so that we might live for Him. Teaching and living - they belong together. We do not learn from God's Word so that we can amass more head-knowledge. We pray for a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ - a life-changing knowledge that gives us the strength that we need to live for the glory of God.

"The Lord spoke the Word to Micah" (Micah 1:1).  The Word is given to the prophet. This is where true prophecy begins. It begins with God. It does not come from the mind of the prophet. It is given to him by the Lord. In this revelation, given by God to the prophet, there is "the Word" and "the vision." God speaks to us. He draws near to us. Jesus is God's "Word" to us. He is more than the words spoken to us. He is "the Word made flesh" (John 1:1,14). To "all" people, God says, "Listen ... Pay attention" (Micah 1:2). What does God say to us? He speaks "against" us (Micah 1:2). Do we need to hear this? Yes! We do. The Word that is spoken against us prepares us for the Good News of God's love. The more seriously we take the Word that is spoken against us, the more we will give thanks to God for His love. We will rejoice in this - His love reaches us in our sin and triumphs over our sin. ...

Set apart for God, we rejoice in His great love. ‘Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you’ (Joshua 3:5). ‘Sanctify them in the truth; Thy Word is truth’ (John 17:17). Together with the command, there is the prayer. We are called to set ourselves apart for God. We can only do this when we look to the Lord for His strength. We receive His strength through His Word. We give ourselves to the Lord. He gives His promise to us: ‘the Lord will do wonders among you’. His promise of blessing is no guarantee of an easy time. In the promised land, there would be problems - and God: ‘as I was with Moses, so I will be with you’ (Joshua 3:7). There would be conflict - and victory: ‘the living God is among you... He will without fail drive out from before you...’ (Joshua 3:10). We look beyond Joshua to Jesus - ‘God with us’ (Matthew 1:23). In Him, we have the victory (1 Corinthians 15:57). There are some things that are worth repeating! The story of God’s...

Micah 1:1-2:13 We thank You, Lord, that Micah was a fearless preacher of Your Word. His message was not popular: ‘Let the Lord God be a witness against you.’ He was a forthright preacher of Your Word. He knew that the people wouldn’t want to hear what he had to say to them. He demanded that they listen to him. This wasn’t only Micah’s word. It was Your word, Lord. That’s why Micah said, ‘Hear, O peoples, all of you. Listen, O earth and all who are in it’ (Micah 2:2). Teach us, Lord, that we cannot afford to ignore Your Word. Help us to listen to Your Word. You speak Your Word against us. You say to us, ‘You cannot save yourselves’ (Micah 2:3). You speak Your Word against us so that we might learn to rejoice in Your Word of salvation: ‘I will bring you together like sheep returning to the fold’ (Micah 2:12). Micah 3:1-5:1 We thank You, Lord, for the words that Micah speaks to those ‘who hate good and love evil’ (Micah 3:2). He calls upon them to change their way of ...

We find God’s blessing when we come to worship Jesus Christ. In Micah 5:2, we have a prophecy concerning the birth of Jesus at ‘Bethlehem’. This prophecy invites us to ‘go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about’. At ‘Bethlehem’, we see ‘shepherds, glorifying and praising God’ (Luke 2:15,20). We also see Jesus our Shepherd. He is the One whom the shepherds worshipped. He is the One who ‘will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord...’ - He is ‘the Good Shepherd’. He ‘laid down His life’ for us. - He is ‘the Great Shepherd’. He ‘was raised from the dead’ for us. - He is ‘the Chief Shepherd’. He will ‘come’ again for us (5:4; John 10:14; Hebrews 13:20; 1 Peter 5:4). Jesus, our ‘Shepherd’, gives us ‘strength’ to ‘do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God’ (Micah 6:8). God’s blessing increases as we build our life upon Jesus Christ. Life can be testing and trying. In all of this, God makes Hi...

"You, Bethlehem ..." (Micah 5:2-4) - a great prophecy of the birth of Christ. As we read the Old Testament, and come across passages like this, we see the hand of the Lord at work in human history. We see God, fulfilling His plan, carrying out His eternal purpose - salvation. "Remember your journey ... so that you may know the victories of the Lord" (Micah 6:5). It is a good thing to recall what the Lord has done for us. This gives us strength to face the future with confidence in the Lord. "The voice of the Lord calls out to the city" (Micah 6:9). God is calling us to be His voice, speaking His Word to the people of our community.

Day 243 Micah 5:1-7:20 ;  2 Corinthians 5:1-10 ;  Proverbs 21:17-26 God wipes out the shadow of our past - He “pardons sin” ( Micah 7:18 ). He shines in the light of His future - “We will be “clothed with our heavenly dwelling” ( 2 Corinthians 5:4 ). From this standpoint of privilege, we are called to fulfil our responsibility: to be soldiers of Christ ( Proverbs 21:22 ). Day 244 Isaiah 1:1-2:22 ;  2 Corinthians 5:11-6:2 ;  Psalm 105:1-11 The ministry of Isaiah calls for reality, for transformed lives. this renewal of our lives can only be achieved through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don’t have the power to change ourselves. It is in Christ that we become “a new creation” ( 2 Corinthians 5:17 ). This great Gospel blessing gives us much reason for praising the Lord and giving thanks to Him ( Psalm 105:1-2 ). Day 245 Isaiah 3:1-5:7 ;  2 Corinthians 6:3-7:1 ;  Psalm 105:12-22 “Those who are left ... will be called ho...