In the indictment against Israel recorded by the prophet Micah are old truths of how God wants you to follow Him, honoring His ways in humility with faith. Faith in God even in the old testament was what saved always pointing to the future Christ who would satisfy God’s perfect justice. A humble heart is a reflection of man realizing that he falls short in meeting God’s standard and needs God’s forgiveness.
Micah 6:8
[8] He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (ESV)
And in the same chapter of Micah, God lays out that the wicked that violate these principles are convicted and will face destruction. In modern times we’ve moved beyond wicked scales and deceitful weights, but the principle of cheating and gaining wealth through dishonorable means is alive and well in today’s world growing to an extreme, with those in power even using the government to prop up and enforce their schemes. But just like Israel was conquered with only a remnant escaping, our world and its corrupt nations are facing impending destruction. But the truth is the people of the world love their darkness, and they can’t stand the light that came into the world and have rejected Him, and He in turn will honor that decision and reject them. As God said, “what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” Maranatha!
Micah 6:11–13
[11] Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights? [12] Your rich men are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. [13] Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow, making you desolate because of your sins. (ESV)
Micah 6
The Indictment of the LORD
[1] Hear what the LORD says:
Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your voice.
[2] Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the LORD,
and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the LORD has an indictment against his people,
and he will contend with Israel.
[3] “O my people, what have I done to you?
How have I wearied you? Answer me!
[4] For I brought you up from the land of Egypt
and redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam.
[5] O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised,
and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.”
What Does the LORD Require?
[6] “With what shall I come before the LORD,
and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
[7] Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
[8] He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
Destruction of the Wicked
[9] The voice of the LORD cries to the city—
and it is sound wisdom to fear your name:
“Hear of the rod and of him who appointed it!
[10] Can I forget any longer the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked,
and the scant measure that is accursed?
[11] Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales
and with a bag of deceitful weights?
[12] Your rich men are full of violence;
your inhabitants speak lies,
and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
[13] Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow,
making you desolate because of your sins.
[14] You shall eat, but not be satisfied,
and there shall be hunger within you;
you shall put away, but not preserve,
and what you preserve I will give to the sword.
[15] You shall sow, but not reap;
you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.
[16] For you have kept the statutes of Omri,
and all the works of the house of Ahab;
and you have walked in their counsels,
that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing;
so you shall bear the scorn of my people.” (ESV)