He has told you, O mortal, 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? —Micah 6:8

Micah is one of the twelve

prophets, which means shorter not less important. All twelve books fit on one scroll.

Micah’s Context in 725 BC

Micah writes as a twenty-five-year-old

boy from a small village in the foothills southwest of Jerusalem.

The prophet Micah was a younger contemporary of the prophet

, who lived 742-687 BC.

Israel was a

yet strategic and valuable piece of land, as it occupied the main trade route between Asia and Africa.

Assyria, as the dominant power in the region,

the trade route.

Judah trusted

rather than God to protect them from Assyria. (Isaiah 30:1-3)

The first major section of Micah’s book is a

to the capital cities of Samaria and Jerusalem. (Micah 1:5)

Micah warns that Samaria will be destroyed because of

by their political and religious leaders. (Micah 3:1-2)

“Prophets didn’t always foretell the future. What they saw was the handwriting on the wall…They could see what was about to happen in the world around them. And then they expressed, ‘Here’s how God relates to this.’” —Adam Hamilton

Fifty years of peace and prosperity in the northern kingdom of

ended in 722 BC, when the Assyrians conquered them and destroyed their capital, Samaria.

Micah has three messages for God’s people:

for their evil, the promise of God’s

Reveal Answer

, and a vision for the restoration of Jerusalem.

We serve the same

as Micah.

Do Justice

Like Micah, we believe words and songs matter

than working for justice daily. (Psalm 82:3-4, 8)

Justice is not a

, but rather a requirement of God’s people. (Micah 6:8)

Justice is about closing the

between the world as it is and the world as it is meant to be.

Put simply, justice is

all people. (Deuteronomy 10:17-19)

God cares deeply about the

of the legally helpless; the orphan, the widow, the poor, and the immigrant.

“The stranger” in the Bible is a person without citizen status and in danger of

. (Amos 5:24)

The Hebrew word for justice, right judgment, or doing the right thing appears more than

times in the Old Testament.

Biblical justice includes compassion, defending the rights of the oppressed, and

to bring about shalom.

Justice doesn’t “

happen.”

“We are meant to stand with and for the people who are bullied and picked on; we are meant to work for seeing justice.” —Adam Hamilton

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

“Racism and prejudice are still the two diseases that overwhelmingly hurt our world and hold us back from progress.” —Dr. Kevin R. Murriel

MLK Day is the only federal holiday designated as a National Day of

to encourage all Americans to volunteer to improve their communities.

The success of the Civil Rights Movement proved that

is critical.

We work for a cause

than ourselves so that all people can live together in authentic community. (Proverbs 31:8-9)

“Ignoring racial division will not bring about racial reconciliation.” —Dr. Kevin R. Murriel

What will you do at Christ’s

banquet? You can’t dodge

Reveal Answer

forever!
Jesus knows about injustice; the ultimate act of

Reveal Answer

is his death on the cross.

Action Steps

1. Reveal Answer
   “Letter from Birmingham Jail.”

2. Show up for your community and

   Reveal Answer
   those experiencing economic or racial injustice.

3. Join me Monday at 4pm at Quayle United Methodist Church in OKC to envision a “Beloved Community.”

4. Join our upcoming class “Breaking the Color Barrier” with Bobbie Seaton and Prof. Nick Timmerman.