DCLM Daily Manna Tuesday 26 December 2023
TOPIC: Learn from Their Mistakes
TEXT: Micah 1:1-10 (KJV)
1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
3 For, behold, the Lord cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.
4 And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.
5 For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?
6 Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.
7 And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.
8 Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.
9 For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.
10 Declare ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all: in the house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust.
KEY VERSE
“For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?”
(Micah 1:5)
DCLM Daily Manna Tuesday 26 December 2023 MESSAGE
One of the ways we learn in life is from people’s actions. Many of our skills and behaviours are as a result of imitation. We learn both positive and negative things. A well-known expression goes, “One person’s misfortune is another person’s warning”. We can profit by observing the mistakes of others and avoiding the same.
One reason for punishing an offence is not only to correct the erring one but that others will learn from it so it can serve as a deterrent to them. In the passage, the prophet wanted Judah to learn from Samaria’s mistake. The capital of the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians. Samaria’s departure from the Lord evidently caused the fall. Micah saw that Judah was moving in the same direction as Samaria and here, he called their attention to Israel’s mistake in the hope that they would learn. Believers are to learn from the mistakes of past generations and other people.
READ DCLM Daily Manna Monday 25 December 2023 – Christ for All Seasons
Instead of looking at them with an air of pride, we should tread with caution, knowing that the same fate can befall us if we are not careful. The Lord expects that the judgment that comes on others due to their sins and carelessness should serve as warning to us. Instead of heeding the warning and learning from the failings of others, some people still continue to rebel against God.
We must be reminded, as Micah did to the recalcitrant people of Judah, that God’s standard and demand for holy and righteous living do not change. If He had punished a set of people in the past for the same acts of sin and rebellion, He will do the same today. The only way to avoid suffering the same punishment with the sinful and disobedient is to learn from the judgment that came on them, take heed and avoid their evil examples.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Let the failings of others serve as a lesson to you.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Revelation 7-8
