Micah 3:5-7
This is what the Lord says:
‘As for the prophets
who lead my people astray,
they proclaim “peace”
if they have something to eat,
but prepare to wage war against anyone
who refuses to feed them.
6 Therefore night will come over you, without visions,
and darkness, without divination.
The sun will set for the prophets,
and the day will go dark for them.
7 The seers will be ashamed
and the diviners disgraced.
They will all cover their faces
because there is no answer from God.’
We thought yesterday about what it would be like for us as individuals, if God was silent. Here we see the same thing, from the perspective of those whose job it was to speak God’s words to the people. We know from chapter 2 that Israel in Micah’s day was full of false prophets, telling the nation what they wanted to hear instead of what God actually said. These prophets will trade a so-called message from God for a good meal - it’s all about them getting what they want for themselves. Instead of leading the people towards God, these ‘prophets’ are leading people astray. And so it is right that they experience God’s judgement. Once again, we see God’s justice at work. The prophets have been giving the people false messages, so now there will be no messages. They have abused the privileged role of being God’s spokesmen and so their job will be taken away from them. Instead of basking in the spotlight, they find themselves in darkness. What use is a prophet if God doesn’t speak to them? What use is someone who sees visions, when it’s too dark to see anything at all?
If I’m honest, I’ve struggled to find the encouragement in these verses. I’m tempted to jump ahead and think about Jesus, the perfect prophet. But we need to save that for verse 8, which we’ll look at tomorrow!
But I wonder if there is, perhaps, one good thing happening here. The ministry of the false prophets is going to be brought to an end. The seers and the diviners are ashamed and disgraced. No one’s going to be following them anywhere any more. So I wonder if, perhaps, that’s a reflection of God’s care for his people. He’s not going to leave them permanently at the mercy of fake visions and misleading messages. I don’t suppose that the people saw this as a blessing at the time. They probably wanted to cling on to the reassuring lie that everything was going to be just fine, rather than facing the uncomfortable truth of their need to repent. We’re much the same. So let’s ask God to help us recognise when we’re treasuring lies instead of trusting his truth. And thank him that he loves us enough to do whatever it takes to bring us back to him.
