(REFLECTIONS ON Micah 2:1-13)

There the people of Judah are late in the evening, planning, plotting, and setting things up to their advantage. These actions aren’t by accident, but are strategically planned. When they should be at rest and asleep, Judah plans, plots, to “rob a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.” 

However, whose land, is it? Are they plotting and robbing from a man and his house, a man and his inheritance, or from the Lord? Yes, the land is the Lord’s, and it was His heart to bring Israel into this Promised Land. 

However, the land was never for them to sell, exchange, and take over. And so, the Lord speaks judgment on the people for their evil thoughts and unethical practices. As with all the prophets, no one wants to hear Micah’s message and only want to hear what they want to hear. 

Brothers and sisters, what is the Holy Spirit saying to us through Micah the prophet? Perhaps the question isn’t about the land, but about our lives. Whose life, is it? Do we think that we belong to others and that others belong to us? 

Do we see human relationships as only between people, and we can plan, strategize, and plot in order to manipulate these human relationships? Do we think certain people are beneath us and under our authority, and others are in charge of our lives that we need to bow down to and follow? 

Yet, we are reminded just like the land that was being stolen in Judah, that our lives are being stolen as well. We have stolen the lives of others, and others have stolen our lives. The greatest tragedy in human history is thinking our lives are our own, to possess and to give away.

Our lives are the Lord’s, they have been bought with a price and redeemed by Jesus Christ through the cross. Our lives are no longer our own, and the lives of others are also the Lord’s and not ours. When are we going to learn that only in Christ, by the Holy Spirit, are we able to find true unity, reconciliation, and relationship with God’s creation? 

Yes, we often think that human relationships are just between humans, but may the Lord remind us today that human relationships are built in Christ, and when we are one with Him, then and only then can we experience true unity and reconciliation.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Micah 2