(REFLECTIONS ON Micah 1:1-16)

Micah saw the judgment of the Lord concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. As a prophet of the Lord, when the prophet’s heart aligned with God, he said,

8 Because of this I must lament and wail,
I must go barefoot and naked;
I must make a lament like the jackals
And a mourning like the ostriches.
9 For her wound is incurable,
For it has come to Judah;
It has reached the gate of my people,
Even to Jerusalem.

When the prophet’s heart aligned with God, he couldn’t contain himself but lament and wail. In him was the sadness, disappointment, and the tears of God’s heart.

Micah wasn’t just speaking the word of God, but the word of God affected him deeply, and it led him to mourning and grief over the people of God, lamenting, wailing, going barefoot and naked.

There were no ifs, ands, or buts about it, Micah said he “must” make a lament like the jackals, and a mourning like the ostriches. We can imagine that crying sound, no not just a few sniffles here and there, but loudly and without the ability to stop. The sounds were no longer the words of a man, but the lament and mourning of animals.

As the prophet’s heart aligned with God, he realized that what happened in the northern kingdom of Israel had also bled into the southern kingdom of Judah, and it was an incurable wound. The disease, the brokenness, the turning against God came even to Jerusalem where the house of God and the holy temple was located.

Brothers and sisters, when our hearts are aligned with God how can we not feel, cry out, and do all that is in our power to preach the change and be the change that God desires for His people?

When our hearts are aligned with God, can we sit back and do nothing? Can we pretend that we know nothing or that there is nothing wrong? Can we go on living for ourselves, or when our hearts are aligned with God “must” we also say something and do something about it?

Yes, we may lament and mourn, but in Christ Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit we are also empowered to turn back to Him, not only us, but to bring others along with us back to the Lord.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Micah 1