We hear many people speak of “Justice”, “Right” or “Rights”, and the world is filled with injustice, and unrighteousness; and none of us are completely innocent of either. We love seeing the hungry fed, the poor and/or homeless given shelter and even finding prosperity in their paths of life. Is it injustice that makes people poor; or unrighteousness that causes a family to go hungry or without shelter? My answer to that is NO! Circumstances in life can have an affect on an individual’s misfortune; or that of a families homelessness and poverty.
One thing we can be certain of and that is that there is no injustice, or unrighteousness in or with our GOD, the Lord of creation. My reading began in the Minor Prophet of Micah, and concluded with Habakkuk with Nahum in between. My reading only consisted of 13 chapters today. That is where those five extra days at the end will help make up the difference.
Micah is a prophet who calls for his listeners to “Hear”. In verses 1:2; 2:1, 9; 6:1 the prophet Micah calls for the people to “Hear”. He calls on the religious leaders to hear, the political leaders, and the people to “Hear”. We need to hear what Micah has to say. Micah’s name means, “Who is like the LORD?”
“The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple. For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of His place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall be molten under Him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.” Micah 1:1-4 (KJV)
By the first verse we can tell that Micah was a contemporary with Isaiah, Hosea, and Amos. The LORD is a witness against all injustice and unrighteousness.
How many times have you heard someone say, “Life is not fair”, or “That’s just not fair” or some other “fair” statement. NO! Life is not fair. God is however Just and Righteous; and we can depend on and trust Him to do what is right, just and holy. He calls on His people to live that way too. The LORD is not pleased when He sees injustice and unrighteousness, especially in those who call themselves “children of God”.
“But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” Micah 4:1-2
Micah is a prophet with a prophecy of promise. A day is coming when nations will “flow” unto the “Mountain of the house of the LORD”. “Flow” seems like a thing that a river would do within its banks. It is a natural thing for a river to flow. It is a natural thing for the people of God to flow to the place where God is, yet it is by the power of God that we are able to flow there. Who is like the LORD?
We can see this question; though not stated as we read Nahum and Habakkuk.
In Nahum we have written,
“The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at Him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at His presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before His indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of His anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by Him. The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in him. But with an overrunning flood He will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue His enemies.” Nahum 1:3-8 (KJV)
The prophecy of Nahum is written to Nineveh, that same city that God had sent the prophet Jonah to about 100 or so years previous to Nahum’s prophecy; and the city had repented, and God withheld judgment. However, now judgment was coming because of their sinful brutality and wickedness;
“Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery; the prey departeth not; the noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots. The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon their corpses: because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts. ‘Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; ‘and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock. And it shall come to pass, that all they that look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, ‘Nineveh is laid waste: who will bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?'” Nahum 3:1-7
Though Habakkuk asked the timeless question, “How can a holy God allow evil to continue?” he still comes to the conclusion like the others. “Who is like the LORD?” This prophecy is a debate, of sorts, between the prophet and the LORD. Of course in a debate such as that there is only one winner of the debate; however the one who yields to the LORD’S wisdom is a winner too.
Habakkuk’s conclusion of the matter,
“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places.” Habakkuk 3:17-19 (KJV)
Habakkuk has reached the conclusion that all of God’s people will reach. God is God. There is no other. I will trust in Him when there are no crops; when the blessings are all dried up; when the flocks and the herds are no more. Who is like the LORD? There is none like Him.
-Tim A. Blankenship