Micah's Hope
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Sources of Hope
Sources of Hope
new job or position
financial standing
Political changes
Physical changes
new school year….
There can be positive and even godly outcomes in all of those things, but there is ultimately only one source of hope that can provide lasting change and relief in the midst of dark and difficult circumstances.
Last week, we considered Micah’s Lament over Israel. He cried out to God over the condition of his country - their corruption, the breakdown of the fabric of the society and so much more. Micah concluded his lament with a refrain of hope...
But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me.
Micah closes out his book with the reason for his hope. His hope is not established on wishful thinking or naive sentiments. His hope is founded on two thing that the Lord is - which bracket two things that the Lord will do. In other words.., Micah’s hope is founded on God’s character and His conduct.
Micah begins his hope-filled conclusion with a reflection on the fact that...
Character: The Lord is light (8-10)
Character: The Lord is light (8-10)
Micah seems to know that he is in dark days and difficult times. The condition of his nation has left him in despair. Even his own sinful failings have left him down and alone, but he is not without hope. He writes (in the NLT)...
Do not gloat over me, my enemies!
For though I fall, I will rise again.
Though I sit in darkness,
the Lord will be my light.
I will be patient as the Lord punishes me,
for I have sinned against him.
But after that, he will take up my case
and give me justice for all I have suffered from my enemies.
The Lord will bring me into the light,
and I will see his righteousness.
Then my enemies will see that the Lord is on my side.
They will be ashamed that they taunted me, saying,
“So where is the Lord—
that God of yours?”
With my own eyes I will see their downfall;
they will be trampled like mud in the streets.
It seems like there are two things that God’s characteristic of light is doing here in these verses. First of all...
He is revealing sin (8-9)
He is revealing sin (8-9)
Sin has a way of crippling us. It makes us want to hold back, hide, cover up, sit in darkness. That secrecy, when it’s uncovered by our enemies gets mired in shame. They love to, as Micah says, “gloat” over our failings.
And yet when God shines the light of his holiness, it’s not to shame us. Sure, there is natural shame - after all in our sin we have failed, we have fallen, we have transgressed. Rather, when God shines the light of His holiness on our sin it’s to restore us, to reveal that sin in us, to heal us. God brings into the light that which we want to keep hidden and in the dark. He roots out that which is killing us from within.
David understood the profound ramifications of sin and the healing character of God when he wrote in Psalm 32...
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
God’s convicting light can feel like a heavy hand - until that sin is confessed to the Lord - until that sin is addressed in our lives.
Micah speaks from that freedom and relief.
But in addition to seeing the revealing quality of light in the Lord, Micah notices the fact that
He is restoring honor (10)
He is restoring honor (10)
In other words, he is overcoming shame.
Micah recognizes that this healing and revealing aspect of God’s light will turn the shameful taunts of his enemies back on them when they see the ways that God can restore honor.
Over the last couple of weeks, this theme has come up in some conversations between Danielle and me. There have been several podcasts that she has listened to and shared with me where people have talked about both the revealing nature of God’s light and the restoring work of his forgiveness.
Let me give you two brief scenarios
God’s light seen in community - when we are mired in sin - maybe it’s an addiction of some sort - alcohol, drugs, pornography, games, social media likes, approval of others, news, work - in our own desire to hide our shame/addiction - we also hide our sin. We keep it from others. We might even pull back and remove ourselves from some aspects of fellowship. But, when God’s revealing light breaks in and the heavy hand of the Holy Spirit’s conviction becomes unbearable - the response that God has designed is confession - going to a trusted brother or sister in Christ and confessing sin. Sure, there may be ramifications, but there will be healing. Acting as an agent of God’s light, this brother or sister can work toward lifting us out of the dark, out of the shame, out of the despair.
God’s light restoring honor - One of the podcasts that Danielle shared included an interview with a woman named Kait. From the time she was a teenager, Kait had been very sexually active. Her identity was wrapped up in making her body available to many different men. In some ways, she didn’t know any better. After all, it’s what the culture was telling her was good and right - and yet she found it wasn’t. She shared that at one point in time she was growing closer to one particular man - thinking he might be the one to accept her for more than one night - maybe he’d be the one to accept her forever, but as he learned about her past, all he could see was her shame. To him, she was not worthy of lasting commitment and love. It wasn’t until she allowed the light of God’s love to pierce into her that she realized that she wasn’t identified by her shame-filled past and was not an object of sexual pleasure, but rather, she was someone created in God’s image who had been redeemed, restored, renewed. Coming into the light actually led her to a man who saw her as made in God’s image. They worked together to overcome their past shame and are now married and encouraging others to see who God made them to be and why enjoying sex inside of marriage is God’s good design. For Kait and her husband the shame is passed, honor is restored.
If you’re struggling, mired in a darkened cave of shameful loneliness - step into the light of God’s community, his forgiveness, his love. Confess your sin to the Lord. Consider confessing your sin to a brother or sister in Christ who can walk with you and encourage you as you heal. Jesus took our shame on himself when He died on the cross. There is no need for us to hold onto the shame the he bore for us.
This is one reason why we are looking to begin community groups in the fall- we want to create more intimate spaces where we can be available to one another, to work together, led by the Holy Spirit and guided by His word to shine the light of Christ in each of our lives and work toward healing and restoration. We will be discussing that more over the next couple Of months.
For Micah, he finds hope in the revealing light of God’s character. He also finds hope in the fact that...
Conduct: The Lord will cause the remnant to flourish (11-13)
Conduct: The Lord will cause the remnant to flourish (11-13)
As we’ve seen over that last several months in looking at Micah, the people of Israel and Judah had not lived up to the expectations that God had placed on them. While it has seemed like the entire society had become so corrupt that there was no hope of redemption, Micah seems to know that there is a remnant - there will always be a remnant of God’s true people. God will cause them to flourish - even in godless lands.
A day for the building of your walls!
In that day the boundary shall be far extended.
In that day they will come to you,
from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
and from Egypt to the River,
from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
But the earth will be desolate
because of its inhabitants,
for the fruit of their deeds.
Micah sees a day when the walls that had been torn down will be built up. The boundaries that had receded will be extended - far extended. There seems to be this picture of the whole earth being desolate and yet coming to the remnant -to the restored people of Israel.
David Prior makes an interesting connecting between these extending boundaries and a reference that we’ll see in the next section.
The Message of Joel, Micah and Habakkuk: Listening to the Voice of God 2. The Lord Is Shepherd to His People (7:11–14)
If we link the references to Carmel, Bashan and Gilead (14) with the vision of Jerusalem extending its boundaries (11), we have a thrilling scenario. The whole of this territory will be contained within the rebuilt walls of the new Jerusalem—geographically impossible but theologically powerful. This also corresponds to the perfection, beauty and fruitfulness of the holy city which John saw ‘coming down from God out of heaven’ at the end of the book of Revelation.
So you have what seems like the physical boundaries of Jerusalem extending from Egypt to the Euphrates River from Mt. Carmel - which is in Northern Israel, west of Galilee - to Bashan and Gilead which are east of the Jordan and Galilee. The geographic impossibility becomes a spiritual reality.
Some time ago I listened through some sermons that Tim Keller did on the book of Habakkuk. He noted that one of the challenges we run into with reading and studying the prophets is that they seem like so much doom and gloom. There is a lot of talk of judgment, discipline, and destruction. As we look back through history, what we see is that in exile, the people actually came back to the Lord.
Keller noted that when the Israelites were taken off to foreign lands, they began to have a redeeming impact in those lands. Their return to faithful worship of God and to faithful covenant living resulted in other nations changing some of their hideous and murderous ways. Not everyone returned to the land, but many did return to the Lord’s ways and began to have a God-glorifying influence in their societies.
Jeremiah encouraged these exiles to have a positive impact in those foreign lands.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
The remnant was intended to make an impact.
Even in our day, we get the joy of living as God’s people in an increasingly godless land. We get to act with love, grace and mercy. We get to pray for the welfare of the cities that we inhabit.
I think this also means that we get to engage in godly work in all levels of society. We should pray for Christians to enter into government, to run for the board of education, to become judges, professors, physicians, scientists, and more. I think we should be in those places not to impose God’s ways, but to advocate for them, to be a positive, godly influence in our society. To help them see that the vitriolic back biting of our age doesn’t need to be the way forward. There is a better way. There is a flourishing way. God’s way.
So Micah’s hope is rooted in God’s light-revealing character and his flourishing activity, next we get to see another action of God in the lives of his people....
Conduct: The Lord will shepherd His people with justice (14-17)
Conduct: The Lord will shepherd His people with justice (14-17)
We’ve seen over the course of Micah’s book how he called the leaders “shepherds” of God’s flock. Now Micah observes that the Lord will be the shepherd. And rather than shepherding with favoritism and corruption, God will shepherd with justice.
Shepherd your people with your staff,
the flock of your inheritance,
who dwell alone in a forest
in the midst of a garden land;
let them graze in Bashan and Gilead
as in the days of old.
As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
I will show them marvelous things.
The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
they shall lay their hands on their mouths;
their ears shall be deaf;
they shall lick the dust like a serpent,
like the crawling things of the earth;
they shall come trembling out of their strongholds;
they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,
and they shall be in fear of you.
The injustice of human shepherds will be replaced with the just guarding of God. What’s more, God’s righteousness will be marvelously displayed against the feeble rebellion of the godless nations.
Just as people will come to the mountain (Micah 4) to learn God’s ways, one day, all nations will see that God alone is worthy of praise and reverence. Lord let that day be soon! Let that day be seen in us, through us.
Finally, Micah finds hope in one final character quality of God, that...
Character: The Lord is incomparable (18-20)
Character: The Lord is incomparable (18-20)
For Micah, this hits close to home as his name means, “who is like the Lord.” Micah recognizes a couple of profound truths that reveal just how incomparable God is. First of all...
Though He is just - He is also forgiving (18-19)
Though He is just - He is also forgiving (18-19)
Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity
and passing over transgression
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not retain his anger forever,
because he delights in steadfast love.
He will again have compassion on us;
he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.
When the people of Israel were surrounding Mt. Sinai during the Exodus, God identified himself with one of the most mysterious and seemingly contradictory statements...
The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
In His just standard, God treats sin for what it is and yet in his steadfast love, mercy, and grace he forgives iniquity. How can the two co-exist together?
Most clearly in the cross of Jesus Christ.
When Jesus laid aside the glory of eternity and took on human flesh, he became like us. He identified with our humanity and our temptation to fall into sin, and yet he lived perfectly. When he died, he took our sin on him. As I said before, he bore our shame.
For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
Or consider...
We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.
If you’re not yet a follower of Christ, I want you to understand that God’s justice will be meted out. The bible says that the “wages” or “reward” for our sin is death (Rom. 6:23). Our sin deserves death - either our death - which results in eternal separation from God - or through Jesus Christ - which results in a purpose-filled life here and eternal life with God. When we put our faith and trust in Jesus - his death - then we receive God’s eternal forgiveness and His justice is satisfied.
Micah not only sees God’s incomparable nature in his justice and forgiveness, but he understands that...
Though we are faithless - He is faithful (20)
Though we are faithless - He is faithful (20)
We’ve observed how the people of Israel and Judah were rebellious against God. Even though God is bringing discipline to His people, he remains faithful to keep his promises to them.
You will show faithfulness to Jacob
and steadfast love to Abraham,
as you have sworn to our fathers
from the days of old.
God made promises to both Abraham and Jacob - land, people, they would be blessings to nations and more. God has a way of being able to fulfill his promises - in spite of our faithlessness.
Beloved, know and understand that even in our failings, even when we fall, even when we are faithless to Him - he remains faithful to us - to His promises toward us. His hesed or steadfast love will not let us go.
Our world and society (and Micah’s society) is filled with faithlessness. People leave one another. They leave relationships, agreements, churches, families, and more.
George Matheson, a preacher and hymn writer from the late 19th and early 20th centuries knew this well. In 1882, on the eve of his sister’s wedding, he faced a sort of “mental suffering.” He has not recounted the exact nature or subject of this suffering. Many have speculated that the contrast between dealing with the rejection of his fiancee - who left him when she learned that he was going to be completely blind - stating “I do not wish to be the wife of a blind preacher” and the marriage of his sister to her own love. In this speculation and in light of the words he was inspired to write some have wondered if he was feeling left alone. On that night, in a flurry of inspiration, Matheson wrote:
O Love that wilt no let me go, I rest my weary soul on Thee; I give Thee back the life I own, that in Thine ocean depths its flow may richer, fuller be.
I the midst of his anguish, Matheson was reminded of God’s faithful love.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Micah had reasons to hope for the future because of God’s character and conduct - and so can we.
God’s light may reveal sin but also restores honor from our shame.
God’s blessing conduct will cause his remnant to flourish
God’s shepherding conduct will guide and protect his people
God’s incomparable nature reveal his justice, forgiveness, and faithfulness - even when we are sinful and faithless.
May our hope rest in God alone.
Let’s pray
Benediction:
Benediction:
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
Discussion Questions:
How is God’s light-filled presence on our sin different than the shaming work of the enemy? How should we respond?
How has God caused the people of Israel/Judah to flourish? How do you see God’s people continuing to flourish today? What has he promised in the future?
Psalm 23 is a beautiful picture of the Lord’s shepherding work. How is that Psalm similar/different to Micah 7:14-17?
Micah’s name and his message communicates that there is no one like God. What does Micah say makes God incomparable? How else is He like no one else?
References:
Osbeck, Kenneth W. Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions. Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel Publications, 1996.
Prior, David. The Bible Speaks Today: The Message of Joel, Micah & Habakkuk. Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, IL, 1998.
Um, Stephen. Micah for You. The Good Book Company, 2018.
Waltke, Bruce K. “Micah.” In New Bible Commentary: 21st Century Edition, edited by D. A. Carson, R. T. France, J. A. Motyer, and G. J. Wenham, 822–833. 4th ed. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1994.
https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/micah/
https://bibleproject.com/explore/category/how-to-read-biblical-poetry/
ESV Study Bible