Micah is one of those Minor Prophets which leads me to ask, “Where in the world is Micah?”  I  page around until I find it between Jonah and Nahum.  I blame it on my confirmation pastor, Walter Braem, who didn’t have us memorize the books of the Bible back in 1954.  I can remember that the New York Giants won the World Series that year, and Willie Mays catch in center field off Vic Wertz drive, and the brief emergence of Dusty Rhodes.   And I remember our 4-H club, Happy Pipers, won the B league Polk County softball championship which we played on the infield of the race track during the county fair.  But remember the order of the Minor Prophets?   Not so much.

I really shouldn’t hold Pastor Braem responsible.  It isn’t as if I haven’t had sixty one years to learn them on my own.

Once I do locate Micah I find a gem in the middle of the book.  God is speaking, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days…He shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for how he shall be great to the end of the earth.  And he shall be their peace.”

In a few day we will sing, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”  My favorite lines are from stanza three,

“How silently, how silently

The wondrous gift is given

So God imparts to human hearts

The blessings of His heav’n.”