#DailyDevotions Do We Give To Preachers Only When We Like What We Hear?
Micah 3 5 The LORD says this against the prophets who lead my people astray: “When they have something to bite with their teeth, they preach, ‘All is well!’ But they declare a holy war against the man who doesn’t put anything in their mouths. 6 That is the reason night will come on you, and you won’t have a vision, a darkness in which you won’t be able to tell the future. The sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will turn black over them. 7 The seers will be disgraced and the diviners ashamed. They will all cover their lips because God won’t answer them.” 8 But certainly I am full of the LORD’s Spirit, full of power, justice and courage, to tell Jacob his wrong and Israel his sin.
So while the first four verses of this chapter rebuked the rulers of Israel and Judah, now the LORD is coming for the second tier of leaders namely the prophets. It is well known that religious leaders are just as if not more influential towards the people they minister to than the body politic (although to their shame, many in the ministry over the ages have been influenced by the body politic).
One of the charges here against them is they preach “all is well” as long as they are well fed. Well this is just a horrible thing to do if one holds oneself out as a prophet of the LORD. Those who are called into the ministry of the LORD are called to preach the truth no matter what their state is. We are not to excuse or promote the contributors’ favorite sin just because they are giving to us or contributing to the church’s coffers.
On the other hand these prophets are declaring a holy war against those who do not contribute to their well being. It apparently didn’t matter whether the person is living rightly or not. They apparently were using their influence as a prophet to stir up other Israelites against these non-contributors, or calling out their sins, or bringing curses down upon them. Woe to the preacher who preaches based on how well anyone contributes to his well being and doesn’t rightly preach the Word of God to all people.
As punishment upon these prophets the LORD was going to cease receiving visions. The LORD is bringing upon them darkness instead of light. On top of this, it appears they were using divination as well to predict the future to their clients. The LORD would make sure their predictions would not come to pass in order to shame them. The act of covering their lips/mustaches must be some sort of sign of embarrassment. Perhaps it is because what has come out of their lips has been proven to be a lie. Since they aren’t preaching what the LORD has given them to preach, the LORD will manifest their lies. It is unfortunate we still have men and women who preach a lie in order to make a living. How many preachers have condoned illicit sex outside the bounds of a husband and wife? How many promote abortion? How many won’t correct a powerful and large donor to the Church for fear of losing his money or prestige? Will the LORD support such preachers? Won’t He condemn them.
Micah preaches with the power of Spirit. He preaches with boldness and justice to those who sin. We who preach the Gospel should follow his steps, preaching repentance from sins and forgiveness for the sake of Jesus Christ, being impartial like the LORD Jesus Christ.
Heavenly Father, give us preachers who preach in Your Spirit with power, boldness and justice so we may repent of our sins and turn to Jesus Christ for salvation. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.