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Bern Leckie and Owen Lynch share thoughts and feelings about several \u201cminor\u201d prophets with major messages in the Old Testament, as well as Psalms 66 to 72.

We often think of the word \u201crighteous\u201d as quite religious or worthy in a traditional way, but when God\u2019s prophets called people to righteousness, it looks like the major concern was how people were suffering because of a lack of social justice and people\u2019s concern for each other. It turns out that God values people more than we do, and that without closeness to God, we find it hard to share God\u2019s values and live with them as our own.

The prophet Jonah especially struggled with being asked to take a message from God to his enemies, not because he was afraid for his life, but because he didn\u2019t want them to respond in a way that would bring them forgiveness. We might see this as a picture of how we or anyone might hear Jesus\u2019 challenge, \u201cLove your enemies.\u201d This is hard, maybe impossible for us without God\u2019s help.

So can we ever know what to do without constant direction from God? The prophet Micah brought assurance that we should already know the basic idea - \u201cact justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God\u201d. This is harder to live in practice than to remember as a Bible verse, but can it give us a framework for a full, balanced life where we want to keep learning and growing in practical love?

In next part of our boxset, we\u2019ll return to the New Testament and look at Paul\u2019s first letter to the Corinthians and both of his letters to a young leader, Timothy. Listen along at your own pace at severnvineyard.org/bible.