Daily Devotional For Saturday, July 18, 2026

Good morning Southside!. Aren’t you excited that tomorrow is Sunday and you get to go to worship the Lord with other believers praising His name and learning truth from His Word? I am and I hope you are also. Our daily devotional reading for today comes from Micah 5:2:

“But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf” (NLT).

This passage is one of the main passages read in church or in people’s personal devotional time during Advent. It is the central message of Micah – the promise of a future Savior who would be born in Bethlehem. Micah’s prophecy offers a solution to what he identifies as the problems with Israel in Micah 1-4 – God’s people’s corruption and sin that has run amuck. This prophecy comes 700 years before the birth of Jesus. Some scholars have tried to refute that it is not authentic or about Jesus. But history shows it is. When the Magi came to King Herod and told him of the star they had seen as the fulfillment of prophecy of the birth of a Messiah, he asked them where the child had been born. They told him Bethlehem (see Matt. 2:2-6)

When the Assyrian King Sennacharib had come to Jerusalem, he almost destroyed it. The people were looking for leadership and Micah’s prophecy to them was not to look to the hills of privilege and power, but to look to a little time called Bethlehem. Bethlehem was an obscure and insignificant town. What better place for God the Father to have the birth of the King of kings and the Lord of lords?

Bethlehem is the combination of two Hebrew words: Beth (house of) and Lehem (bread). Micah uses the word “Ephrathah” to refer to Bethlehem. This Hebrew word means “bountiful, fruitfulness.” In other words, from the House of Bread, will come a bountiful Messiah who is the Bread of Life. If you are a student of the Bible, you might remember that the love story between Ruth and Boaz (the kinsman redeemer) took place in Bethlehem. 

This is important because in a Hebraic mindset, genealogies were always listed by the father. Matthew, one of Jesus’ original disciples, lists four women’s names as well (Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Mary). 

1. After Tamar’s husband died, she disguised herself as a prostitute and tricked Judah into having sex with her. She became pregnant and gave birth to twins: Perez and Zerah.
2. Rahab was a prostitute who hid the spies when they came to scope out Jericho. Boaz’ mother was Rahab.
3. Ruth was a widowed Moabite woman. Jews were commanded not to marry Moabite women, but she married Boaz. They have a son named Obed, who was the father to Jesse, and Jesse was the father to King David.
4. Mary – she was the fulfillment of prophecy about the birth of the Messiah in Isaiah 7:14. Mary was a peasant girl. She had no power, privileges or positions. She by Roman standards was a nobody – just another Jewish slave to Rome. 

This passage in Micah gives us 3 lessons to remember:

1. God’s way of salvation is always contrary to man’s way. A good example is when God sent the prophet Samuel to Jesse’s home to anoint the next king over Israel, even though the prophet thought David did not fit the picture of a future king. It was God’s choice. And it was from David’s lineage the Messiah would come in the future (see Isa. 11:1).
2. God delights in using the most unlikely people and places to accomplish His will and display His glory. Bethlehem definitely fits that picture. As far as people, Gideon, Moses, Abraham, Peter and Thomas do. Jesus certainly fits this picture. He was not born into wealth or power, but to 2 peasant Jewish parents. As far as places, Jerusalem would have been most people’s pick for the birth of the Savior. It was the center of political and religious power. Instead, God chose the little town of Bethlehem. 
3. Micah shows that the true hope for anyone lies in God’s sovereign grace. We see this in David, who was not a self-made man. He was a God-made man. He had a faith in God that could not be broken, even when he sinned. Even though David did not deserve God’s grace, he received it. 

Micah’s message to God’s people was that hope was on the way. What is interesting is that it was not just Christians who accepted Micah 5:2 as pointing to the future Messiah, the Jews and their religious leaders did also. The phrase “distant past” is a reference to eternity. Jesus our Messiah came from eternity to live among us. This verse makes it clear that the future Messiah would come from David. This is why Matthew 1:1 lists Jesus this way. 

Reflection Assignment: Read the short descriptions of the 4 women in Jesus’ genealogy. What does this tell you about their role in the birth of the Messiah? Read the 3 lessons to remember above. Which one of them has the greatest impact on you and why?

Scripture To Meditate On: John 7:42, “For the Scriptures clearly state that the Messiah will be born of the royal line of David, in Bethlehem, the village where King David was born” (NLT).

Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, help me to trust Your sovereign plan of grace for my life. However and wherever You want to use me, I am available as Mary was. Thank You for choosing those the world would never expect to do things they do not believe can be done. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”

I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly