Week 71: Micah-Nahum
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Monday, January 17 Micah 1-2 Read & Listen Online Micah 1 Read & Listen Online Micah 2 (Click “Audio” link to listen)
1. List Israel’s sins as they are identified in Micah 1-2. How do they compare with the sins of our own time? How will God stop the sinning (Micah 1:15; 2:3-4)? Why will God save a remnant (Micah 2:12-13; Isaiah 11:1, 10; Romans 10:9-12)? Praise God for His remnant, you included, using the words of the second verse of “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name” (LW 272).
Tuesday, January 18 Micah 3-4 Read & Listen Online Micah 3 Read & Listen Online Micah 4 (Click “Audio” link to listen)
2. What are some significant things that have happened in the last 50 years or so? What significant things do you anticipate will happen in the next 50 years? The people of Micah’s time could look back and see many significant events that had happened in the not too distant past and that significant changes were in the offing. Speaking with the confidence of one who knows the ascended Lord, what was Micah’s conviction about the future (Micah 4:5, 10)? Speaking as one who knows the Lord in Jesus Christ, what are your convictions about the future? See Ephesians 1:3-8.
Wednesday, January 19 Micah 5 Read & Listen Online (Click “Audio” link to listen)
3. How would you characterize some of the rulers of our day? What words would you use to describe them? Did you use the word “shepherd” in any of your descriptions? Micah described the new “ruler over Israel” as a shepherd (Micah 5:4). What are some characteristics of a good shepherd (Psalm 23; 78:71-72; 95:7; Isaiah 40:11; Jeremiah 3:15; Ezekiel 34:11-16)? The promise of a shepherd that Micah brought was ultimately fulfilled in God’s perfect Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ. How did Jesus care for us, His flock (John 10:11, 14; Hebrews 13:20-21; 1 Peter 5:4; Revelation 7:17)? Praise God for His Good Shepherd in the words of the hymn “The King of Love My Shepherd Is” (LW 412).
Thursday, January 20 Micah 6 Read & Listen Online (Click “Audio” link to listen)
4. “What have I done to make you so unfaithful?” That is what the Lord asked Israel (Micah 6:3). What are some things that people blame on God? Have you blamed God for anything lately? An illness or accident? A damaging storm? A death in the family? God told Israel to remember several good things He had done to justify the sentence He was about to mete out to them – exile in Babylon. What were these good things (Micah 6:4-5; Numbers 22:16-18; 24:10-11, 17)? What good things has God done for you? Praise and thank Him for His love in word and deed.
Friday, January 21 Micah 7 Read & Listen Online (Click “Audio” link to listen)
5. How would you describe what God in Christ Jesus has done to our sins? State a few descriptions of your own. Now read Micah’s and Isaiah’s descriptions: Micah 7:19; Isaiah 30:13-14; 43:25; 44:22. How did Paul describe what Christ did to our sins (Galatians 5:24)? Find several other Bible passages that remind you that Christ destroyed the power of sin and the devil. When our sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, they are gone forever. Rejoice together using the words of the hymn “Oh, Bless the Lord, My Soul” (LW 457).
Saturday, January 22 Nahum 1-3 Read & Listen Online Nahum 1 Read & Listen Online Nahum 2 Read & Listen Online Nahum 3 (Click “Audio” link to listen)
6. If you are being pushed around by the local bully, if you are suffering from a terrorist attack, if you are falsely accused, if you are the ones whose leaders have been blinded and imprisoned or killed by a brutal enemy – the words of the prophet Nahum, whose name means “comfort,” bring joy. Read some of these words together: Nahum 1:2-3, 9. All of us want the activities and regimes of cruel and brutal bullies put to an end. Nahum and other inspired writers assure us that God acts to put an end to the activities of those who bully and oppress His people; remember, too, the biggest bully is the devil. Read together several of these statements and note how God takes care of these problems: Nahum 1:3, 7-8; 2:2; Romans 6:17-18: 8:31-39; 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10; 1 Peter 5:6-10. Then in prayer praise God for His mercy and His justice.
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