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November 14, 2024; Day 5 of Week 33
- 2024/11/14
- 再生時間： 10 分
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あらすじ・解説
Daily Dose of Hope November 14, 2024 Day 5 of Week 33 Scripture: Micah 5-7; Matthew 25 Welcome back to our devotional and podcast, the Daily Dose of Hope, intended to complement the Bible reading plan at New Hope Church in Brandon, Florida. Today, we finish up the book of Micah. Remember, Micah is prophesying to the Southern kingdom of Judah. Throughout the book, Micah is condemning the prophets, priests, and rulers who are leading the people astray. This was a time of uncertainty, as both Isreal and Judah were faced with overwhelming foreign military powers. The Assyrian Empire was becoming quite a force and they were known for their brutality. Israel (the Northern kingdom) was in chaos. Micah certainly saw the destruction of Israel and foresaw the destruction of Judah. Economic and social injustices were the norm and pagan worship was tolerated and openly practiced. Micah was preaching to a people who had become rather complacent and felt they really did not need to pay too much attention to the laws that God had given them as a guideline for their life and community. It’s kind of ironic, as they are experiencing a great deal of political uncertainty. The nation just north of them is falling to the very scary Assyrian army. This is a time you might think they would really be seeking God, but they exist in this kind of just half-hearted religiosity. They are going through the motions, they are still oppressing the poor and engaging in gross injustice. I want us to spend some time today in chapter 6, where we find some of Micah’s most recognizable verses. Listen to verses 6-7, With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? It’s as if the people are saying to God, “What is it you expect from us?” and they start listing this almost absurd list of offerings. You can almost hear them, kind of arrogant, like “Aren’t we doing enough? What is it you require? Why do you keep bugging us about this?” But the bottom line was the people were not doing what God required. They may have been engaging in some religious show but they weren’t really being faithful to what God called them to do. They might stop by the temple, sacrifice an animal as required, but they weren’t truly living as God wanted them to. They were fooling themselves. I think we do this a lot as Christians today. We think, well, I show up at church every now and then. I’m generally a good person. I don’t lie all that much and I even occasionally buy stuff for missions or put money in the offering plate. Those are all good things, don’t get me wrong, but is that truly what God requires of us? That leads us back to our passage from Micah. The people were engaging in outward religious show but not really living as God called them to live. So we are going back to this dialogue between God and his people. Let’s move on to verse Micah 6:8, a very famous verse, many of you have heard it before, He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. It’s kind of like God is saying to his people, via Micah the prophet, “Hey guys, you know what you are supposed to be doing.” You know it; you just aren’t doing it. It’s in the law, it’s in God’s Word. It’s like he is saying, “Look, you’ve tried a bunch of things and have messed up, nothing has seemed to be working, now let’s get down to basics.” God doesn’t want your extravagant sacrifices, maybe they are well-meaning at times or maybe they’re prideful and self-serving, but that isn’t what he truly wants from you...GOD WANTS TO CHANGE YOUR HEART!!! Any other offering will fall short over and over again. What is it God requires of you? What are the three things that are there throughout the bible, basic to the law of Moses, basic to the teachings of Jesus? What does God require? “To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” You might be acting “religious” but if you aren’t living the rest of your life as God requires, if you haven’t changed your heart, then you’ve missed the point. Okay, let’s move on to Matthew 25, our New Testament reading for today. In this chapter, Jesus gives us a deeper look into the Kingdom of God through three parables that demonstrate the need to be ready for his return. I’s like to focus on the parable of the bags of gold. Other translations call this the parable of the talents. A wealthy land owner goes on a journey and entrusts his servants with some talents. A talent was actually a measure of weight rather than an amount of money. It was approximately 130 lbs. so whether or not it was a ...