Why Do Families Hurt Us the Most

Why Do Families Hurt Us the Most?

Series: Families, Broken and Beloved

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STUDY GUIDE

Why Do Families Hurt Us the Most?

SUMMARY

Family wounds often cut deeper than any other kind of pain because God designed families to be places of trust, honor, safety, and covenant identity. When covenant faithfulness breaks down, emotional and relational fracture follows. Episode 2 of the Families, Broken and Beloved series examines Micah 7.5 to 7, where the prophet describes a society and family structure collapsing under betrayal, fear, and injustice. The ancient world understood family as bayit, pronounced BAH yeet, meaning household, lineage, and covenant identity. When family trust fails, everything in a person’s world becomes unstable. Yet Micah responds not with despair but with hope. He declares that even when family trust collapses, the Lord remains the One who hears, rescues, restores, and heals. This study guide explores the linguistic, cultural, and theological dimensions of the passage and invites believers today to examine their own family wounds through the lens of covenant, redemption, and the faithfulness of Yeshua.

Previous Episode - Got a MESSY Family?

KEY HEBREW TERMS

1.  Bayit (BAH yeet)

Meaning house, household, lineage, covenant identity. Describes the people who shared honor, shame, authority, and inheritance.

2.  Batach (bah TAHKH)

A Hebrew verb meaning trust, confidence, reliance, leaning the weight of one’s life upon another.

3.  Oyev (oh YEV)

An adversary, opponent, or enemy. In Micah 7 it refers to one who stands in opposition to a person’s wellbeing, sometimes even inside the home.

PRIMARY TEXTS SIDE BY SIDE

Micah 7.5 to 7, LEB

don't trust your neighbor.

don't put confidence in a close friend.

Guard the doorway of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.

For a son treats his father with contempt.

A daughter rises up against her mother.

A daughter in law against her mother in law.

A person’s enemies are the people of his house.

But as for me, I will look to Yahweh.

I will wait for the God of my salvation.

My God will hear me.

Micah 7.5 to 7, CJSB

don't trust a neighbor.

don't put confidence in a friend.

Keep your mouth shut when speaking with the woman who lies in your arms.

For a son insults his father.

A daughter rises up against her mother.

A daughter in law against her mother in law.

A man’s enemies are the members of his own household.

But I will look to Adonai.

I will wait for the God of my salvation.

My God will hear me.

Micah 7.5 to 7, NASB 2020

don't trust in a neighbor.

don't have confidence in a friend.

Guard your lips from her who lies in your arms.

For son treats father contemptuously,

daughter rises up against her mother,

daughter in law against her mother in law.

A person’s enemies are the people of his own household.

But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord.

I will wait for the God of my salvation.

My God will hear me.

Note the last sentence in each of the translations?

ANE CONTEXT

Micah prophesied to Judah during the eighth century BC. The Assyrian Empire threatened the region militarily and economically. Corrupt leadership, idolatry, and unjust practices eroded the covenant identity of the people. In this environment, family stability began to fracture. Honor and shame systems governed daily life, and the breakdown of trust within a household meant social collapse. Bayit referred not only to the physical home but to a network of kinship, authority, responsibility, land inheritance, and communal protection.

Micah’s words reflect a social world in moral freefall. When families turned against each other, the covenant order God intended from Abraham onward was breaking apart. The prophet’s lament described a society where covenant loyalty had eroded so deeply that even marriage, parenthood, and kinship were no longer places of safety. Micah speaks truthfully to reveal that the spiritual condition of the people is displayed first in the home.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1.  In what ways does Micah describe the collapse of trust within families?

2.  How does the concept of bayit reshape your understanding of family beyond the modern Western nuclear model?

3.  What family wounds have shaped your understanding of God, and where does Micah 7 invite you to trust differently?

4.  How can you anchor your sense of identity in Yeshua when family patterns have been painful or unstable?

5.  What does Micah mean when he says, My God will hear me, and how does this give hope to those wounded by family?

PRACTICAL APPLICATION

Family pain isn't theoretical. It affects real emotions, decisions, relationships, and identity. The message of Micah 7 offers both honesty and hope. First, name the reality: family wounds exist and are powerful. Second, identify the generational patterns that shaped your own home. Third, choose covenant faithfulness in your own relationships. Fourth, anchor your trust not in family members who may fail but in Yeshua who will not. Healing begins not with rewriting the past but with surrendering the heart to the God who hears.

REFLECTION PRAYER

Father, You see every hidden wound and every silent ache in my heart. You know the fractures in my family, the places where trust collapsed, and the words that marked my soul. Teach me to look to You as Micah did. Heal the hurts I can't fix. Restore my identity. Strengthen me to walk in covenant faithfulness even where my family history has not. I surrender my bayit, my household, and my heart to You. In the name of Yeshua, Amen.

FOOTNOTES

1.  Bruce K. Waltke, A Commentary on Micah (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), 384.

2.  Daniel I. Block, The Gods of the Nations (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013), 112.

3.  Michael Williams, The Prophets of Israel (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2015), 219.

4.  John H. Walton, Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 73.

5.  Michael Heiser, The Bible Unfiltered (Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2017), 94.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Block, Daniel I. The Gods of the Nations. Baker Academic, 2013.

Heiser, Michael. The Bible Unfiltered. Lexham Press, 2017.

Walton, John H. Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament. Baker Academic, 2006.

Waltke, Bruce K. A Commentary on Micah. Eerdmans, 2007.

Williams, Michael. The Prophets of Israel. Baker Academic, 2015.

Shalom b’Shem Yeshua.

© 2025 Dr. Shawn M. Greener. All Rights Reserved.

True Word, Faith for LIFE!

BLOG POST

Why Do Families Hurt Us the Most?

Have you ever noticed that the deepest wounds in your life come from the people who were supposed to love you the most? Family wounds shape us, sometimes more than anything else. Family wounds create stories we live inside, patterns we repeat, and questions we carry into adulthood.

The prophet Micah lived in a world collapsing under pressure. His nation was trembling under Assyrian threats. Leaders were corrupt. Justice was compromised. And worst of all, the fractures in society showed up first in the families. Micah writes, A person’s enemies are the people of his house. it's one of the hardest verses in the Bible to read, yet one of the most honest.

Micah wasn't attacking family. He was revealing a truth we often avoid. When covenant faithfulness collapses in the nation, it collapses in the home. When pride replaces humility, family fractures. When fear replaces trust, family splinters. When sin replaces repentance, generations suffer.

And yet, Micah Didn't end in despair. He ended with hope. As for me, I will look to Yahweh. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

Maybe you know what it feels like to be unheard in your family. Maybe your wounds came from someone who should have protected you. Maybe trust broke long ago. But here is what Micah teaches. God hears you. God knows your wounds. God is faithful when family isn't.

Taco Tony always jokes that if he can't trust his own family with his secret taco recipe, who can he trust. And I always smile and tell him the truth. When trust breaks down everywhere else, you anchor your trust in the God who does not fail, forget, abandon, or betray.

If your family wounded you, hear this. God isn't defined by your family’s failures. he's the God who heals what others have broken. he's the God who writes new chapters where old wounds once lived.

CHALLENGE AND CHOICE

Here is your challenge.

Will you keep carrying your family wounds as your identity?

Here is your choice.

Or will you surrender them to the God who restores?

Will you allow Him to become the anchor your family failed to be?

PRAYER OF SALVATION

Heavenly Father, I come to You today with an open and humble heart. I know that I have sinned and fallen short of Your glory, and I am asking for Your forgiveness. Right now, I turn away from my sins and I turn fully toward You. I believe that Jesus, Your Son, is the promised Messiah that He died for my sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day just as the Bible says. Today I call on Your holy Name. Please forgive me, cleanse me, and make me new. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit and write Your truth on my heart. From this day forward I choose to follow Jesus as my Lord, my Redeemer, and my King. Thank You for loving me, for saving me, and for making me part of Your family forever. In the name of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, I pray. Amen.

If you prayed that prayer today, I want to welcome you into the family of God. Contact me through TrueWordFaithforLife.com and I will personally help you take your first steps in the Way.

If this message spoke to you, share it with one person who carries family wounds. Your share might be the very thing God uses to begin healing in their life.

Shalom b’Shem Yeshua.

© 2025 Dr. Shawn M. Greener. All Rights Reserved.

True Word, Faith for LIFE!

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