TODAY IN THE WORD

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hosea 10:1-10
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TODAY IN THE WORD
The great Scottish Bible expositor Alexander MacLaren once wrote: ""We may have as much of God as we will. Christ puts the key of the treasure-chamber into our hand, and bids us take all that we want. If a man is admitted into the bullion vault of a bank and told to help himself, and comes out with one cent, whose fault is it that he is poor?""

That's a question we need to think about for awhile. Without a doubt, the people of Israel could have had all of God they wanted. When you have some time, read the covenant blessings God offered to Israel in the book of Deuteronomy.

What God did was to take a stubborn and rebellious people out of slavery in Egypt and plant them in the promised land like a ""spreading vine"" (v. 1). But Israel treated God's blessings in a way that would be totally incomprehensible to us--were it not that we often do the same thing.

Israel partook of the riches in God's ""bullion vault,"" but then turned to the spiritually bankrupt and vile religions of the nations around them. The more God blessed the nation, the more Israel used these benefits to build a system of pagan worship in the ""high places of wickedness"" (v. .

It takes a deceitful heart to do something like that, and this is just the kind of heart Israel had. The people's lack of loyalty to God was underscored by their lack of loyalty to one another and the agreements they made. Lawsuits had become a way of life for the faithless nation (v. 4), an observation that we in America need to take to heart!

These verses provide at least one more important detail of the coming Assyrian captivity. To their great shame, the calf-idol that Israel was so taken with would be confiscated and carted off to Assyria.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
In 1 Corinthians 10:6, Paul urges us to learn important spiritual lessons from what happened to Old Testament Israel.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hosea 10:11-15
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TODAY IN THE WORD
In a book entitled Down to Earth, John Lawrence tells the story of a city that dared God to show Himself and paid a terrible price. It seems that the city of Messina, Sicily, was home to many wicked, irreligious people. On December 25, 1908, a newspaper published in Messina printed a parody against God, daring Him to make Himself known by sending an earthquake. Three days later, on December 28, the city and its surrounding district was devastated by a terrible quake that killed 84ꯠ people.

Although God does not always answer such challenges this directly, how foolish it is to shake a fist in His face. Though Israel was not daring God to strike in this way, the people were sinning in His very presence. Judgment was sure to fall.

The closing verses of Hosea 10 help to complete the prophet's picture of sin and judgment. But in the middle of this unrelenting indictment, we find an interlude that almost surprises us. Verse 12 is an eloquent and refreshing invitation to personal and national holiness.

The promises of God's loyal love and showers of righteousness seem too good to refuse. God wanted Israel to sow righteousness, yet she spurned the offer of Her loving Husband and chose instead the heavy yoke of a plow animal. Since Israel seemed determined to yoke herself to sin, God would see to it that she was yoked to the heavy task of plowing (v. 11), a symbol here of the soon-to-come invasion and conquest by Assyria.

Pulling a plow was much harder work for an animal than pulling a threshing stone, but Israel chose the hard way of the transgressor. She had ""planted wickedness"" and ""reaped evil,"" in accordance with the principle of reaping what one sows (Gal. 6:7).

We're not sure of the references Hosea makes to a battle in verse 14, but the message for Israel is unmistakable. Hosea likened Israel's fate to the battle of Beth Arbel, where the devastation was terrible. This was what was in store for Bethel, a name used here to stand for Israel.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Reaping what you sow is an iron-clad principle in God's kingdom.

Perhaps that's why it appears so frequently in our daily journey through God's Word. We cannot be reminded often enough that what we do with the ""little stuff"" in our daily lives has real consequences.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hosea 11:1-11
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TODAY IN THE WORD
The house where German scientist Albert Einstein did some of his most creative thinking in the early 1930s was so peaceful and tranquil that Einstein referred to it as his ""paradise."" He loved to take long walks in the pine forest behind the house, and he cherished the quiet and seclusion it provided.

But today the atmosphere around that wooden house in the German village of Caputh is anything but tranquil. It is at the center of a bitter ownership battle involving the village and Jewish families seeking to recover property lost to the Nazis.

The land of Israel was meant to be to God's people what the house at Caputh was to Albert Einstein: a place of peace, safety, and tranquility--and the site of fruitful labor. Israel had all these blessings and more in the promised land. But her sin turned her home into a place of turmoil and fruitlessness.

For the third time in Hosea's prophecy, God looks back with favor on Israel's early history. Here He is, Israel's loving Father, tenderly calling His child out of Egyptian slavery and into the land of milk and honey (v. 1).

The tender reminiscence continues in verses 3-4. God took His helpless nation by the arms and taught Israel to walk. He healed the nation's wounds and fed them from His hand.

But like a rebellious child running from its father's outstretched arms, Israel ran from God into the arms of Baal. To say that this showed arrogance and an astonishing lack of gratitude on Israel's part is an understatement. How could God withhold a judgment that was so richly deserved?

Verse 6 contains an important Hebrew word play, a technique Hosea employed frequently. Predicting the coming invasion and conquest, God said that the swords of Assyria would ""put an end"" to Israel's plans. In the Hebrew, this is the word ""devour"" or ""eat,"" the same word used in verse 4 for God's ""feeding"" of Israel.

What a contrast this makes between God's past blessing and the present judgment! Because Israel refused to be fed by God, He allowed Assyria to feed on His people, destroying the nation.


TODAY ALONG THE WAY
The chances are good that today's devotional is being read by many fathers whose relationship with their children has been disrupted by either rebellion or poor choices on one side or the other.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hosea 11:12-12:14
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Like a skillful prosecutor, God has carefully built His case against the wayward nation of Israel. Now, as we consider today's Scripture reading, He is getting ready to wrap up His presentation of the evidence for judgment. But before He allows the prophet Hosea to put down his inspired pen, God has a few more witnesses to call against Israel and a closing argument to make.

God's witness list in today's text is an impressive one. It includes Jacob (or Israel), the father of the nation, and Moses, the nation's greatest prophet. Both had a lesson to teach Israel, but both lessons went unheeded.

Jacob's story is referred to twice (Hos. 12:2-5, 12). His famous and first act as a newborn was grabbing his brother Esau's heel (Gen. 25:26). This was a clue to Jacob's usurping and scheming character, but he eventually had to face God and repent of his sin. Like him, Israel needed to return to God and seek His favor.

In Hosea 12:12, God called on Jacob again to remind Israel of her humble beginnings. The nation's father had to tend sheep just to secure a wife. Then in his old age, Jacob had to take his family to Egypt to avoid starvation in the famine.

From Egypt, God used the prophet Moses to lead His people to their promised land. Moses' incredible ministry is condensed here into one verse (v. 13), but the message of God's continual goodness to Israel suffers nothing from this abbreviation.

Around these witnesses, the text continues to weave a tapestry of Israel's utter spiritual faithlessness, injustice, and boasting. As we noted a few days ago, people who show no regard for God will show no regard for one another.

So we should not be surprised to learn that Israel, again represented by the prominent tribe of Ephraim, was a place where a person could not expect to be treated honestly (v. 7). Violence and lies were the order of the day (v. 1).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
When we look around at the violence, deceit, and boasting that stains so much of American life today, we realize that the writings of Hosea carry a vital message for our nation.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hosea 13:1-8
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TODAY IN THE WORD
It was reported recently that an enormous pine tree in the mountains of Colorado had fallen victim to a pine beetle and died. According to locals, up to that point the tree was thought to be indestructible. It had survived fourteen lightning strikes and many years of Colorado winters, including avalanches and fires. But it was eventually brought down from within by a tiny insect that did its work silently.

Eighth-century Israel was felled by a similar kind of disease. Although the climax of the nation's collapse was a military invasion by Assyrian forces, that was only the result of a long period of internal spiritual rot.

Things had not always been that way. The tribe of Ephraim, referred to in verse 1, was once a truly prominent tribe within Israel. Jeroboam I, the king who led the northern kingdom's defection from the unified nation, was an Ephraimite. But Jeroboam was also the one who led the nation in establishing Baal worship.

Once God's people turned to idols, the result was increasing involvement in false worship. The people died spiritually as they fashioned their own gods and then kissed them as a sign of homage (see Ps. 2:12).

Did the Israelites of Hosea's day offer human sacrifices (Hos. 13:2)? The Hebrew of this phrase can be translated several different ways. It may simply be referring to the human beings who sacrificed to the calf-idols. But even without actual human sacrifice, Israel's sin was still so bad that God promised to blow them away as easily as He does the morning mist.

Verse 4 shows that when it came to disobeying God, Israel started right at the top. She had failed to keep the most foundational of God's requirements. God's statement in the latter part of this verse references His first Commandment (Exod. 20:1-3). So it is no surprise that we see the nation taking a downward spiral, from gratefully receiving His care in the desert to receiving His care with indifference in Canaan (Hos. 13:5-6).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Is America well-cared-for and complacent today?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hosea 13:9-16
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Charles Spurgeon was not afraid to declare the Word of God when the occasion demanded it. This great British preacher of the last century, after giving an unpopular message, was approached by a friend who said, ""I hear you are in hot water.""

""Oh no,"" said Spurgeon, ""it is the other fellows who are in hot water. I am the stoker, the man who makes the water boil.""

Spurgeon certainly had the spirit of the Old Testament prophets. It's not that they delighted in delivering messages of warning and judgment. But they did not hesitate to declare the Word of God as they received it from Him.

Hosea received a hard message from the Lord, which he delivered faithfully. And he did so with as much vivid imagery as any of the prophets. We have read some memorable and remarkable word pictures communicating God's care for His people, their sin, and God's response. That imagery continues here as the prophet uses a storehouse, childbirth, and the wind to detail Israel's sin and judgment.

We learned earlier in Hosea that it was futile for Israel to hope in deliverance from her kings. God reminded the nation again of that futility (vv. 10-11).

This would have been true even if Israel's kings had been as mighty as David. Why? Because God had decreed judgment and exile, and no power on earth could prevent it.

In fact, none of Israel's great sins would be overlooked or forgotten by God. He was storing them up against the day of judgment. When that day arrived, Israel would be like a child who refused to be born at the proper time (v. 13).

But then in the middle of this message of judgment, God suddenly plants a word of hope for the future. If the questions of verse 14 sound familiar to you, it's probably because you have read them in another context: Paul's ringing affirmation of the believer's victory over death (1 Cor. 15:55).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Hosea 13:14 is a wonderful dose of encouragement here at midweek.

In 1 Corinthians 15:56-58, Paul borrows these questions, which are actually statements of triumph, and draws out their full implications for us. Because God has delivered us from the sting of death by forgiving our sins in Christ, we have victory through our Savior.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Hosea 14:1-9
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TODAY IN THE WORD
The fires that swept across the early American prairie were said to move so fast that not even the fastest horse could outrun them. In anticipation of the fire's arrival, the pioneers would burn the grass in a designated area around them. Then they would take their stand in the burned area, safe from the blaze because fire had already passed over the place where they stood.

This is a good picture of the refuge God offers to the people of Israel in a day we believe is yet in the future: the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. When Israel's true King comes back, His people will live safely under His protection.

This is the final invitation God makes to His straying nation. He wants to see the people return to Him, so that He might bless them. There was no mystery as to the problem that created the rift between God and Israel and invited His judgment. The people's sins were the cause of their downfall.

Throughout Hosea, God has passionately pleaded for His people to return to Him. We find more of this heartfelt passion in these final verses. God even gives the people the words of repentance He longs to hear from their lips: ""Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously,"" the plea begins.

Notice how thoroughly this confession deals with the sins that had driven Israel away from God. The people had failed to praise God and give Him glory for what He had done, so now they were to offer ""the fruit of [their] lips"" (v. 2). We know from Hebrews 13:15 that this is a ""sacrifice of praise.""

The confession continues in Hosea 14:3, where Israel is urged to deal with two sins we have encountered repeatedly in the book: the futility of making foreign alliances and the heinous sin of idolatry.

For those who return to the Lord with these words, He offers incredible blessings (vv. 4-8). These are millennial kingdom benefits--a time when the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel will again be united and live as God intended.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Have you secured for yourself a place of safety now and in eternity by placing your faith in Christ for salvation? We pray that you have.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Micah 1:1-16
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TODAY IN THE WORD
It's a scene straight out of a Leave It to Beaver rerun. Two brothers are misbehaving, both equally at fault. But when Dad arrives he ignores one of the boys and heads for his brother, saying something like, ""I saw what you did!""

In the meantime, the first brother breathes a quiet sigh of relief, thinking dad was overlooking his part in the fiasco. His relief melts away when his father suddenly turns to him and says, ""And now for you, young man!""

The kingdom of Judah may have felt relief when God miraculously delivered Jerusalem from Sennacherib, king of Assyria (2 Kings 18:13-19). This occurred in 701 B.C., a full twenty years after Israel and its capital had fallen to Assyria.

But God had a message of judgment for Judah as well. One of the prophets charged with delivering that message was Micah, a messenger to the common people. He served as a prophet during the reigns of three kings.

Jotham was generally a good king, although he failed to remove Judah's ""high places"" where God's people practiced idolatry (see 2 Kings 15:35). God would take care of these evil places Himself when He came in judgment (Micah 1:3).

Jotham's son Ahaz, a wicked man, inherited a kingdom that was strong both militarily and politically. But Ahaz greatly corrupted God's people, adopting the evil worship practices of the northern kingdom.

Ahaz's son Hezekiah was one of Judah's greatest kings. He turned the nation back to serving the Lord.

Although Micah prophesied primarily to Judah, his frequent references to Israel show that God had given Micah a word of warning for the entire nation.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Americans are fond of pointing to 200 years of God's blessing as evidence that He will not really judge us in the same way He judged His ancient people.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Micah 2:1-13
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TODAY IN THE WORD
We all have those times when we hear only what we want to hear, not what we need to hear. Sometimes the refusal to admit the truth has relatively small consequences. At other times, however, it can be the prelude to disaster. One example that continues to stand out in history is the Flood during the days of Noah. Imagine the people jeering and laughing at Noah and his family as they built an ark--on dry land! They probably brushed aside his claims that there would be a flood. But in the end, all but Noah and his family were destroyed.

The prophet Micah must have seemed like a ""wet blanket"" in Judah, a stubborn naysayer who refused to paint a rosy picture of the nation's future. There was no lack of prophets to say what the people wanted to hear. ""Do not prophesy about these things,"" the false prophets said. ""Disgrace will not overtake us"" (v. 6). Those who prophesied good things for the nation were the people's choice (v. 11).

But God's Word leaves no doubt about who was right. Judah was too much like her sister Israel for God to ignore her sins. In today's verses, we are introduced to one of Judah's great sins: terrible injustice. Those in power, both socially and in the government, defrauded their brother and sister Israelites of their land (also see Micah 3:1-4).

Taking away a man's land in an agricultural society meant sentencing him and his family to poverty. The coveting of the powerful for the land and homes of the powerless was a direct violation of God's law. The word covet (v. 2) is the same as the one used in the tenth Commandment (Exod. 20:17). To defraud a person of his land portion was also to rob his children of their future, because an Israelite's land was his inheritance.

Throughout Hosea, we have seen God's indictments against Israel set in the context of the Mosaic covenant. To break the covenant was the height of sin against God. Now we know that Judah was also cursed by covenant-breakers.

What would be an appropriate judgment against those who seized the land of others by violence and fraud? Their land would be taken away by foreign invaders (Micah 2:4).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
It is so human to hear only the good things people have to tell us. But it's a temptation we need to guard against.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Micah 3:1-12
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TODAY IN THE WORD
One of the most telling criticisms against America's growing scourge of government-sponsored lotteries is the evidence that many who regularly play the lottery can ill afford to do so. The lottery, as one critic has pointed out, has become like an extra tax on the poor. By selling the fantasy of a life of ease and luxury with just one ""lucky"" play of the lottery, governments across this country are defrauding their citizens. And it's all legal.

But legality has never been the only test of justice. It's possible to know what is right and yet do the opposite. Consider the question the prophet Micah asked the leaders of Israel: ""Should you not know justice?"" (v. 1).

Micah 3:1 begins the prophet's second of three messages, this one extending through chapter 5. This and the other two messages (chaps. 1-2 and 6-7) are introduced either by a call to ""Hear"" or ""Listen.""

The prophet was speaking to ""Jacob"" (Micah 1:5), a synonym for the twelve tribes of Israel. Although Micah's primary emphasis was on the southern kingdom of Judah, he spoke to the nation as a whole in many portions of his prophecy. That's also evident in Micah 1:5 when the prophet refers to both capitals, Samaria and Jerusalem.

Israel's leaders come in for condemnation in Micah 3:1-4. They may have known justice, but they certainly weren't interested in practicing it. These verses offer a stark image--leaders devouring their people as if they were wild animals instead of God's appointed guardians of righteousness and justice. People like this need not expect God to answer their cries for help when invaders come to take them away.

Next, the Lord speaks through Micah to the prophets who had also abandoned their true calling. They were ""for hire,"" saying whatever the people wanted to hear if the price was right. Their judgment would be appropriate (vv. 6-7).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
History is littered with people who compromised their character when a promised pleasure or payoff looked too good to pass up.

Are you being tempted to compromise your Christian character and testimony in some way? It doesn't have to be something ""big"" like bribery or blatant dishonesty. It may be something as small as what you allow yourself to watch on television, cutting a little corner at work, or any one of a dozen other temptations.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Micah 4:1-5:1
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TODAY IN THE WORD
On the grounds of the United Nations headquarters in New York City is an impressive statue crafted by Russian sculptor Yevgeny Vuchetich. The sculpture, a gift to the UN from the then-Soviet Union, depicts a man with a huge mallet raised in his right hand. His left hand holds a sword, which the man is beating into a plowshare. The piece is called, not surprisingly, ""Let Us Beat Swords into Plowshares."" It was designed to echo the main purpose of the United Nations.

If you read today's text, you know that the artist got his inspiration from Micah 4:3. Whatever we may think of the United Nations' attempts to achieve world peace, the goal is a noble one. And it will be achieved some day, but it will require a far greater King and a far greater kingdom than any this earth has ever seen.

The portion of Micah's prophecy we are studying today and tomorrow describes that King and His kingdom. The prophet's second message, comprising chapters 3-5, begins with judgment but ends with a promise of restoration.

People have been quoting Micah 4:3 for generations, expressing their wish for the day when weapons will not be needed because ""nation will not take up sword against nation."" That day will come ""in the last days"" (v. 1). In this glorious millennial age, Jesus Christ will return to establish His 1000-year reign with Jerusalem, here called ""Zion,"" as His throne (v. 2).

One reason that swords will no longer be necessary is that peoples and nations will stream to the house of the Lord to be taught His ways and to walk in His paths. Israel will then be a place where every person will be able to live in safety, free from fear (v. 4). Any rebellion against Messiah the King will be dealt with quickly and completely.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
As God's people, we look forward to the day when Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, will return and establish His true peace on earth.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Micah 5:2-15
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Abraham Lincoln's humble beginnings have become part of American lore. But one historian says that the most difficult part of young Abraham's life came not during his early years in a Kentucky cabin, but after Thomas Lincoln moved the family to Indiana in 1816. The family arrived in Indiana during early winter, needing immediate shelter. Thomas and his son built a three-sided log shelter called a ""half-faced camp,"" the only protection on the fourth side being a fire that burned day and night. The Lincolns began building a log cabin after finishing the shelter, and the family moved in during February, 1817.

Many of the world's great rulers came from humble beginnings, but none more so than earth's rightful Ruler, Jesus Christ the Messiah. Actually, Micah's famous prophecy in verse 2 speaks both of Jesus' earthly beginnings as the Son of Man and of His eternality as the Son of God.

This great verse is like an early touch of Christmas joy, since it is so much a part of the Advent story. But the prophecy is even more glorious in its context of the coming judgment and ultimate blessing. The Ruler from Bethlehem of Judah will one day reign in power and majesty over His millennial kingdom.

Of course, the fifth chapter of Micah does not end with verse 2. That's good news, because the remainder of the chapter outlines a half dozen items on the Messiah's list to accomplish at His Second Coming and the establishment of His kingdom.

First, He will reunite the nation of Israel (v. 3). Second, He will rule His people as a caring and protecting Shepherd (vv. 4-5a). Their security and peace will never be in doubt.

What about Israel's enemies? That's the third item on Micah's list. They will be routed before the Messiah (vv. 5b-9), never to rise up again. Therefore, fourth, Israel will no longer need to rely on military might, but only on the Lord (vv. 10-11).
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Yesterday we praised God for the peace we can enjoy today as His children.

We urge you to praise God for the coming peace of His kingdom. Remember, we who know Christ will rule with Him in the Millennium! Our strife-filled world makes universal peace seem like a pipe dream. On the contrary, it is a wonderful reality recorded for us in the pages of God's Word.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Micah 6:1-16
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Despite the mind-numbing brutality of the Joseph Stalin regime in the Soviet Union, his propaganda machine did its job well. Many Russians hailed him as a hero and a savior, including a young school girl who was chosen to greet Stalin on one occasion.

Years later, this woman recalled Stalin taking her onto his lap, smiling like a loving father. She was starry-eyed, and she cherished the moment for many years. Only later did she learn that during this period, Stalin had her parents arrested and sent to the labor camps, never to be seen again.

Such deceit staggers the imagination. Regarding the Soviet regime, we could say: what else could we have expected from leaders who denied the existence of God and sought to stamp out His memory?

But it's harder to explain away the deceit and treachery on the part of God's chosen people. The prophets Hosea and Micah catalogued the nation's sins, with Micah carrying a particular burden for the cruel injustice that marked the nation in his day.

We have already learned that when God issues an indictment against an individual or a people, there is no answer and no defense. Here in 6:1-5, God issued another such indictment. These accusations are not those of an impersonal prosecutor assigned to a case by the courts.

Instead, they comprise the plea of a loving and caring Father, innocent of any wrongdoing. Talk about ungrateful children. God, of course, had done nothing to earn their disobedience. Rather, He delivered them from slavery in Egypt, gave them the great leader Moses, prevented the false prophet Balaam from cursing them, and brought them by a miracle across the Jordan River (Josh. 4:18).

In response, the people proposed to approach God with sacrifices (Micah 6:6-7). But unless accompanied by justice, mercy, and humility--which would evidence genuine repentance-- Israel's sacrifices were useless.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Integrity seems to be a topic that keeps coming up this month--and it's no wonder, given our subject matter.

One aspect of integrity we have not discussed yet is that of accountability. One way we can help to keep our lives in line with God's requirements is by developing a relationship with another person who can help keep us accountable.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Micah 7:1-13
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TODAY IN THE WORD
Another victim of Joseph Stalin's communist regime in the Soviet Union (see yesterday's study) was author Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. In his unforgettable book, The Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn described the fear of life in a nation where no one could trust a neighbor or even a family member, much as the prophet Micah says of Israel in today's reading. Solzhenitsyn was caught in the web of Stalin's secret police and sent into the Soviet leader's dreaded Siberian prison camp system known as the gulag.

As Solzhenitsyn details his ordeal and that of other innocent Soviet citizens, the picture quickly emerges of a system utterly devoid of either justice or mercy. Ultimately, the Soviet Union collapsed from the collective effects of its moral and spiritual bankruptcy, and we were witnesses to its fall.

Micah was not around to witness the southern kingdom's fall to the Babylonians, which occurred more than a century after Micah's life. But he witnessed to the event in advance through his prophecy; and he also addressed the much more imminent collapse of the northern kingdom, Israel.

Micah expressed his despair at his people's sinfulness by saying Israel was devoid of any good fruit (v. 1). This is similar to someone's saying today, ""There's not a good apple in the bunch."" Israel and Judah were inhabited by the ungodly--the kind of people who would lie in wait to ambush a brother.

Such evil had led to sin in which everyone, from the greatest to the least, was involved. The nation's sin also manifested itself in unnatural ways as friends and neighbors, husbands and wives, and parents and children devised treachery against one another.

Was there any hope in the midst of this mess? Yes, there was--and Micah expressed it in the conclusion of his third message (chaps. 6-7) and his prophecy. Today's verse is the demarcation point between despair and hope, between judgment and salvation.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Isn't it great to know that no person or situation is hopeless as long as God is in the picture? That means it's too early to give up on that difficult person or that immovable circumstance.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Micah 7:14-20
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TODAY IN THE WORD
During the 1884 presidential campaign, the Republicans charged Democratic nominee Grover Cleveland with evading military service in the Civil War. They claimed that he had hired a former convict to serve in his place. The accusation was eventually proven false--and since Cleveland's opponent, James Blaine, was not a Civil War veteran either, the issue was soon dropped.

Serious charges against leaders in high places, whether just or unjust, have become a normal part of the American landscape. The nation of Israel was the bearer of some very serious charges, too. But these accusations were just, because they originated in the court of heaven. Throughout this month, we read God's legal brief against His people.

However, Micah's prophecy ends on a high note. The day will come when God will not make any charge of sin against His people. Their sins will be pardoned, trampled under foot, and thrown into the sea (v. 19). Neither will God tolerate any charge against Israel from other parties.

This glorious era is, of course, the millennial kingdom age when God's Messiah-King, Jesus Christ, will rule in total righteousness. In response to the prophet's plea, ""Shepherd your people with your staff"" (v. 14), the Messiah promises to show wonders just as God did when He brought Israel out of Egypt.

The Egyptians could only look on in wonder and horror as God displayed His power. In the same way, the nations will be reduced to trembling before God's mighty power and will come shaking to the Lord.

Verse 18 is a wonderful question with which to end the book of Micah and our study. The obvious answer is that no god is like our God. He alone can pardon sin and show compassion to His people. Praise God--He does not stay angry with His people but delights in showing mercy.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
We've been finding some great encouragement this week from the pages of Micah's prophecy.

Today's text suggests another encouragement. No charge laid against us and no sin on our part will stand in the way of God's presence (Rom. 8:33-34). As it will be for Israel in the Millennium, so it is for us today in Christ. Obviously, this does not mean that we can be careless about sin. In Romans 8, Paul is not talking about our day-to-day condition, but about the security of our standing in Christ.