God’s
Affairs Among Men
Micah 2:5 “Therefore thou shalt have none
that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of
the Lord.
6 Prophesy ye not, say
they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy
to them, that they shall not take shame.
7 O thou that art named the house
of Jacob, is the spirit of the Lord straitened? are
these his doings? do not my words do good to him
that walketh uprightly?”
1. The Lot of God
2. The Bare Truth of
God
3. The Good of God
1. The Lot of God
Verse five: “Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the Lord.”
That is a strange place to be!
It is a lonely place when there is none to “cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the Lord.”
Why? This is why!
The casting “by lot” is God’s way to signify His choice in the midst of the many possibilities.
The casting “by lot” appears twenty-nine times in the Bible.
The first time in the Bible that casting “by lot” shows up is in the book of Numbers in chapter twenty-six in verse fifty-five: “Notwithstanding the land shall be divided by lot: according to the names of the tribes of their fathers they shall inherit.” [Numbers 26:55]
The term “luck”, which is used by the world, represents a perverted and superstitious meaning of “the lot”.
Bad fortune and good fortune is up to what is called “chance” in the eyes of the unsaved.
Whereas, “the lot” is God’s revealed method of choice used in His affairs with men. The “lot” is God making a selection among the many possible choices for the good of man. “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord.” [Proverbs 16:33]
The “cord” [in our verse here] is nothing more than a “rope”.
We can see this connection made in the book of Isaiah in chapter five, verse eighteen: “Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:” [Isaiah 5:18].
The first mention of the word cord is found in Joshua chapter two, verse fifteen: “Then she let them down by a cord through the window: for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.” [Joshua 2:15]
2. The Bare Truth of God
Verse six: “Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame.”
Now, what can we [as believers in the Church age] learn here in verse six? [1 Corinthians 10:11] “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
We can learn this.
God wants the unvarnished truth of the Bible to be stated clearly by his prophets and by his preachers to the people of this world. Remember what the Apostle Paul said, by the Holy Ghost, in Acts twenty, verse twenty-seven: “For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.” [Acts 20:27]
Preach all the counsel of God!
Now, are you ready for this? Never should the word of God be used for the purpose making anyone feel good at the expense of the word of God [THE TRUTH].
Now, this is exactly what the [false] prophet Zedekiah did according to the word of God in his prophesying to Ahab and Jehoshaphat found in First Kings chapter twenty-two.
Here, Zedekiah assures these two kings that God was with them in this war with Syria.
This was a FALSE ASSURANCE!
We can read, verses eleven and twelve: “And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron: and he said, Thus saith the Lord, With these shalt thou push the Syrians, until thou have consumed them. And all the prophets prophesied so, saying, Go up to Ramothgilead, and prosper: for the Lord shall deliver it into the king's hand.” [1 Kings 22:11-12]
God never commissioned Zedekiah [or any those prophets] to say such a thing, which are lies. Zedekiah sugar-coated the whole thing to give Ahab exactly what Ahab wanted to hear. Zedekiah and “all the prophets” with him were FALSE prophets.
Rather, what Ahab and Jehoshaphat both needed was to hear the unvarnished word of God for their good, i.e., to save their very own hides in a certain defeat at the hands of their enemies.
Micah is saying in verse six, that God had determined that Judah had already reached the point of no return. God has had enough! God, therefore, shuts off the prophets from prophesying to the people; “they shall not prophesy to them.”
It was now too late for them. God did not want any longer to benefit them in allowing them the possibility to “take shame” [to find repentance].
3. The Good of God
Verse seven: “O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the Lord straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?”
For all those who love God, that is, to those … who love the keeping of the words of God is, the words of God will “do good” to them.
In the gospel of John we see the promise made by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, to all those that will love Him.
The three part connection is:
a) loving God [equates to]:
b) the keeping of God’s words, [results in]:
c) God’s words doing us good
… are all found in John chapter fourteen verses twenty-three and four: “Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.” [John 14:23-24]
d) If a man love me, [equates to]:
e) he will keep my words [results in]:
f) we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
God’s word does the true Christian good!
If a man will walk “uprightly” the word of God will do him, or her, GOOD all the time every time. Amen!
If you have been born of God [or born again], then you found something sweeter than honey in your mouth.
According to Psalm 119:103 it is the word of God.
“How sweet are thy words unto my taste!
yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”
[Psalm 119:103]