The lives of those faithful Israelites in the Old Testament were not very different from our lives today. Certainly they did not have the exact lifestyle we have today but they had lives that very much parallel ours today. They had families. They had jobs. They did something with any free time they had. They worshiped God.
But because of the stresses they were enduring, on the world scene, economic challenges, and being surrounded by unfaithful Israelites and non-Israelites, it was difficult to remain faithful to God.
When God called Micah to step into the pulpit in a small town, Moresheth-Gath, outside of the capital of Jerusalem, Micah was a little depressed, distraught, and pessimistic about what was going to happen to him, his family, and his country but especially his faith. As politicians sometimes say, we today might be “cautiously optimistic” about what our new president will do. Maybe Micah was “cautiously optimistic.”
So, in the midst of questions and fear, anxiety, and trepidation, how are we to respond? What does Micah tell those small groups of Israelites meeting together on the Sabbath to study the Law of Moses? Because whatever Micah tells them is what Micah would tell us today, to encourage our hearts.
Let’s allow God’s inspired messenger to encourage us:
WAIT FOR THE LORD – 7:7:
Our confidence, just like our Christianity, is fundamentally a personal choice. Our relationship with God is individual. We do not have a relationship with God as a family or as a church. It is an individual faith that sustains each of us so Micah here makes a choice that, regardless of what his neighbors believe and do and regardless of what his family believes and does – “But as for me” – he is going to make a choice.
I WILL RISE – 7:8:
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Micah turns his attention to his enemies. But Micah warns them not to rejoice over him. “You can’t keep a good man down,” Micah tells them. He might be in the minority. He might not be the most powerful man in his community or his nation. He might not be the wealthiest person in the community or the nation. But if he falls down, “I will rise again.” Micah is optimistic, cautiously optimistic.
I WILL BE DISCIPLINED – 7:9:
Micah also was realistic in that he knew that neither he nor his people were sinless. He knew they deserved whatever God sent their way, whether it was the Assyrian nation or a famine or whatever. Discipline comes from a loving parent (Prov. 3:12).
Micah will endure whatever God sends his way until God sees Micah’s lifestyle, maybe his repentance, maybe his faithfulness, and God will vindicate Micah, execute justice for him. That is, Micah believes that he might be punished along with everyone else but eventually, God will bless Micah for his faithfulness. God will bring Micah out of the darkness and into the light and Micah will be able to see what God has planned, what God has been doing – God’s “righteousness.”
I obviously do not know how this new president is going to serve and govern. Maybe things will be better for Christianity and the spread of the gospel, maybe not. If he has a decidedly “pro-Christian” administration, we do not know what life will be like under the next president, or the next, or the next.
What we do know a few things, as Micah tells us. We need to be patient and wait for the Lord to work. We need to pray both for the success of our nation and for our own blessings. We need to be optimistic that even if we find ourselves in darkness, God can and will lead us to light. Finally, God might discipline us in this life. Accept the discipline; learn from it. Then we will see God’s righteous work.
Wait on the Lord. Be faithful. You will see His righteousness.
–Paul Holland
