I first came across this passage
a long time ago. It was on our fridge of all places.
It was really just one verse, verse 8. Rejoice not against
me O my enemy, when I fall I shall rise and when I sit in darkness
the Lord shall be a light unto you. The Lord had given it to
Jen and over time it became a great encouragement to both of us.
So my text today or our text today is verses 7 to 10. Because
the more I examined this chapter and the more I remembered my
own Christian walk in the world, the more I was really encouraged
by Micah's summation of Christian life. Micah speaks of an experience
that's familiar to all the born again children of God. He gives us a summation, a summation
of our enemies, of the frailty of our own humanity
and of the overwhelming circumstances that are so common in all our
lives. However, here in this passage
we also see the way that this experience leads to the emptying
of our own self-reliance. to the realising of the amazing
grace that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ, and ultimately
to a beautiful picture of victorious faith in the midst of adversity. The prophet begins here in verse
7 with the word, therefore. It's because of the extent of
the corruption of humanity, and especially because of the lack
of faithful witness in the world. In verse 1 he says, Woe is me,
for I am, notice it's I am, as when they have gathered the summer
fruits, as the great gleanings of the vineyard. There is no
cluster to eat. My soul desired the first ripe
fruit. We all desperately need the Gospel.
The Gospel is the light and the life. Yet, as so often is the case,
this world is primarily void of any faithful Gospel witness. And why? Micah tells us in verses
2-6 that corruption prevails on all levels. It's comprehensive. Verse 2, the good man is perished
out of the earth. There is none upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood. They hunt, every man his brother
with a neck, and their purpose in the first three, that they
might do evil with both hands earnestly. The prince asketh,
the judge asketh for a reward, and the great man, he utters
his mischievous desires, and so they wrap it up. All in authority,
all prevailing in evil, and all to their own condemnation." Verse
4. The best of them is as a briar. The most upright is sharper than
a thorned hedge. The day of thy watchmen and thy
visitation cometh. Now shall be their perplexity. You see, there is no faithful
counsel. It's not in authority and there's
none even from those that are close to us. In fact, Even our
own flesh fails us. Verse 5. Trust ye not in a friend,
put ye not confidence in a guy, and keep the doors of thy mouth
from her that lieth in thy bosom. See, that's the reason for this
therefore that he begins verse 7. It's Micah's conclusion in
regard to all humanity. In verse 6, and notice This is
in the closest of relationships. For the son dishonours the father,
the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies are the men of
his own house. Now before we move on to verse
7, I just want us to consider these verses from one more angle. I want to look at them in light
of the corruption, that we all know lies within each of us.
Micah in verse 1, he longs for something that we experience
in our conversions, that first ripe fruit of God's saving activity
in and upon our souls. He speaks in verse 3 of a prince
who may well represent that lower case god that we all think we
are in our Father Adam. He also speaks of the Judge,
which is a good representation of our conscience, or that knowledge
of good and evil that we received in the Garden of Eden. And then there's that great man,
that great man of our own wisdom and strength, who sins in every
thought and every action, all three working together in constant
opposition to both God and to His work within each one of us. In verse 5 Michael also
refers to the futility of seeking faithful counsel from men. Notice
he says, even from her that lieth in thy bosom. Finally he concludes in verse
6 that a man's enemies are the men of his own household. in
the Scriptures can often be a reference to one's own self. Now it's just a thought, but
at the very least it only adds weight to the depravity of humanity,
even in believers. The Apostle Paul in 1 Timothy
saw himself as the chief of sinners, and he concludes in Romans 3,
just as Micah does here, that there is none righteous. Just
in case you didn't get it, he repeats himself, no, not one. So let's move on to verse 7.
And this isn't just a conclusion that Micah's drawing here. More
than that, it's also the driving force behind a course of action
which Lord willing is familiar to every saint of God. This is
the confidence of faith in the midst of prevailing enemies and
a lack of faithful counsel. We just by faith look away from
this world, don't we, and all that's in it. Verse 7, Therefore,
because of all these things, I will look unto the Lord, I
will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. The Scriptures describe this
world as a dry desert because it's parched of any Gospel witness
and it provides no real hope of salvation. But faith, faith
says with Paul in Romans 3, Yea, let God be true, but every man
a lie, because faith relies upon the sovereignty of God. Real faith when God gives it
and God strengthens it. It looks away from this world
and it agrees with Jonah that salvation is of the Lord. True God-given faith. It also waits for God's timing. It trusts that it will be heard.
Faith must be heard. because our God both hears and
he answers us based solely upon the merits of our faithful and
successful advocate, our Lord Jesus Christ. See, faith is confident. As Paul says in Philippians 1.6,
faith is confident that he who has begun a good work in you,
he will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. So faith
also says with the Apostle Paul, Peter, in John 6, Lord, to whom
shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. The faith that is both given
and sustained by God, it actually draws a conclusion in the inner
man that no matter how strong or how prevailing our enemies
are, or appear to be. Our Sovereign God, He really
is faithful, and He will continue to sustain us in every situation. He's promised to work all things
for our good and for His glory. So faith, real faith, given,
strengthened by God, that can really say with Micah in verse
8, Rejoice not against me, O mine enemies, my enemy. When I fall
I shall rise, and when I sit in darkness the Lord shall be
a light unto me." The first thing I want to point out in this verse
is that Micah speaks of our enemies in the singular. And while it
may very well be a reference to Satan, that prince of the
world, it's more than likely a reference to the unbelief that
lies in the bosom of verse 5. Unbelief is that enemy which
is within each one of us. It's the enemy that prevented
the Israelites in the wilderness from entering into God's rest. Unbelief causes all of us at
some time or other, all believers at some time or other, to cry
out to that father in Mark 9 when he said, Lord I believe, help
thou my unbelief. The next thing to notice here
is that Micah says when. He doesn't say if, he says when. We know the frailty of our own
humanity and we know it even more so at
times like these, don't we? We know that we fall in everything
we do, and if you believe the Scriptures, the question really
is, when don't we fall? Remember Isaiah 64 6, we quote
it a lot, but we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses
are filthy rags. You know in that verse, Isaiah
goes on to say, And we all do fade as a leaf. Now iniquities
like the wind have taken us away. It's just who we are by nature,
isn't it? However, saving faith also knows
that by God's grace we will rise. It's a covenant promise of our
God. Our Lord can never fail us, and
as I said earlier, He's already prevailed over all our enemies
forever at the cross. It's not only that, it's also
our Father's will that we rise again, isn't it? Our Lord says
in John 6, And this is the Father's will which is sent me, that all
of which he hath given me, that's all the saints, all the chosen
children of God, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the
world, accepted in the Beloved, of all which he hath given me
I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. The saints also know that there
are many times because of the sin that dwells within us that
we sit in darkness, and yet by God's grace, through faith and
in His time, we are convinced again that the foolishness of
God is wiser than men. And so we just wait. Real faith given and sustained
by God knows that in spite of our own corrupt conscience, our
counsel is actually from God the Father, because He's promised
by God the Spirit to guide us into all truth. All the saved children of God
have been where Micah is describing. God's begun a good work of them.
They love His truths. They know that His Word is the
only true and faithful explanation for what is going on in their
lives. And yet we are all so well aware
that unless the Holy Spirit gives life to His Word, the Scriptures
will never bring us any real comfort or even understanding. When the Lord makes us to wait,
It truly is darkness to us. It's a spiritual darkness, isn't
it? We fall and fail, whether it's
because of our external enemies or because of the consequences
of our sin, but by faith we know that by God's grace we shall
rise and the Lord shall be a light unto us. We know intimately of
the frailty and failings of our humanity. In fact, that's one
of the reasons why we trust our God, especially when He brings
these circumstances into our lives. In verse 9, He says, I
will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned
against Him, until He pleads my cause and executes judgment
for me. He will bring me forth to the
light, and I shall behold His righteousness." It may appear
that our enemies are in control and that they prevail. We may
look upon the circumstances of our lives in a moment of weakness
and be overwhelmed. We may even be envious when we
see the prosperity of the wicked like David was in Psalm 73. And yet faith just rests in the
sovereignty of God alone. Faith knows that in spite of
what things appear to be, our gracious God really does order
all things, even the absolute worst of things, for our good. Brothers and sisters, we deserve
so much worse than what we experience in this world. If we're honest,
we know that. We're sinners in every single
thing we do, and every one of those sins is always in direct
rebellion against our gracious God. Micah, like all the children
of God, He trusts that our God deals with us not based on our
own merits, but on the basis of the advocacy of our great
representative, our Lord Jesus Christ. Thankfully, faith is
convinced that our Father in Heaven only sees us in light
of our Saviour's perfect life and sin-atoning death. You see,
faith It is fully persuaded that the wrath of God toward our sin
was poured out upon our Substitute and Saviour at the cross. Faith knows that our Father in
Heaven, in true and righteous judgement, can only ever see
us as holy, spotless and above reproach in and upon the merits
of our great purity. This is why by faith we trust
in the Father's promise in Hebrews 12, that even His chastising
is that of a loving Father. It's a chastising by which He
promises to receive us as sons, that we might be partakers of
His holiness. It's a chastising by which we
yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which
are exercised thereby." How do we partake of His righteousness? How do we partake of His holiness
and produce fruit of righteousness? It's not by our activities, is
it? It's by faith, and that faith
is exercised by circumstances like these that Micah is talking
about. Notice there that Micah says, He will bring me forth
to the light. It's because faith knows intimately
and experientially that no matter how alone we feel, no matter
how far it seems that our enemies have driven us from our relationship
with our God, our God promises to faithfully draw us
back to Himself. In Jeremiah 31.3, the Prophet
says, The Lord hath appeared of old unto me. He's talking
about the everlasting covenant where God revealed His intentions
towards men, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. and therefore, now this is God's
love in action, not the universal love that can't save anyone apart
from their will. This is God's love in action,
therefore with loving kindness have I drawn them. It's possibly the most beautiful,
it's definitely the most essential blessing in all of this. It's a blessing that far outweighs
all of our suffering. See, even in the midst of all
our sufferings, by faith we experience a very real and a very living
union with our God in our Lord Jesus Christ. And by faith we
receive a clearer view of His everlasting righteousness, because
by God's judgement That righteousness was brought forth as our righteousness. It's our qualification. Ultimately, Michael, by faith,
sees that these overwhelming circumstances are part of God's
perfect plan. One, to bring us to Himself. Two, to further strengthen us
in our faith, that we might stand firmly on His Gospel. And three,
to give us a right view of our enemies and our circumstances. Look at verse 10. Then she that
is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said
unto me, Where is the Lord your God? Mine eye shall behold her, now
shall she be trodden down as the mire in the streets. You notice Micah still speaking
there of his enemy in the singular. And there's even more reason
in this verse to assume that this enemy is the underleaf that
lies in our bosom. It was Satan in the garden that
said, did God really say? And in that he caused us to doubt
the Word of God. But since then, and from that
time on, It's actually been that doubt, that unbelief within each
of us that continually says to us, where is the Lord thy God? It's as if to say that trusting
in His salvation is futile. This experience of Micah's is
an experience which is common to all the saved children of
God. with the Prophet being overwhelmed by his enemies. But as the Lord
strengthened his faith, and as the Lord brought light and life
to the Scriptures of promise, Monica's view of things has now
changed. It's changed dramatically, hasn't
it? But what had changed externally?
Our enemies still remain. They still seem to prevail on
some physical level. They're still corrupt and they're
still void of any faithful counsel. And yet when the Lord opens the
eyes of our understanding and when He causes us to see things
through the lens of the Gospel, His perfect love casts out fear. And when our God graciously strengthens
our faith, we really are comforted. And we really do begin to see
our enemies in regard to our Saviour's victory over them. This is the victory of faith
that John is talking about in 1 John 5. It's a victory whereby
faith, we just simply say, if God before us, who can be against
us? We don't have time, but Micah
continues in this chapter to contemplate these enemies in
light of victorious faith. The whole saving and sustaining
process of God, it's led Micah now in verses 11 and 12 to consider
that when God begins a Gospel work, He will draw every one
of His children of grace to Himself, no matter where the enemies have
been allowed to scatter them. Verses 11 and 12. In the day that thou wars are
to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed. In
that day also He shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from
the fortified cities, and from the fortress, even to the river,
from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain. Nothing will stay
out of God's hand. He has sheep that are lost, and
He has promised to find each one of them. and nothing will
prevent that work. Through victorious faith Micah
realises that there must be consequences for our sin, that even these
are sovereignly controlled by our God to bring good into our
lives. Verse 13, Notwithstanding the
land shall be desolate. We don't have time, but sometimes
in the scriptures the land is a good representation of our
own flesh. Notwithstanding, the land shall
be desolate because of them that dwell therein for the fruit of
their doings. Feed thy people with thy rod."
That's that chastening of Hebrews 12. Feed thy people with thy
rod, the flock of thine inheritance, which dwells solitarily in the
wood, in the midst of karma. Micah began writing this chapter
feeling very alone, I'm sure. Let them feed in Bashan and Galilee,
their alluvial places, places of plenty, as in the days of
old." And what's our great God's response
to that plea of Micah's, to our plea for the same things? According
to the days, in verse 15, according to the days of thy coming out
of the land of Egypt, will I show unto him marvellous things. when we are made to feel the
weight of hell and the condemnation and the gravity of our Lord Jesus
Christ and His Lordship, salvation is the most marvellous thing
we will ever experience. And this just sends Micah, by
the same victorious faith, deeper into contemplation. not contemplating
his victory over his enemies, but his Saviour's victory. Verse
16 and 17. The nations shall see and be
confounded at all their might. They shall lay their hand upon
their mouth. Their ears shall be deaf. They shall lick the
dust like a serpent. They shall move out of their
holes like worms of the earth. They shall be afraid of the Lord
our God. and shall fear because of thee." Now it is helpful for us to contemplate
our enemies in light of our Lord's continual triumph over them,
but we mustn't fix our gaze here for too long. In fact, the eye
of victorious faith actually can't settle unless it's upon
the glory of our great God and Saviour. Back there in verse
17, Michael finished with thoughts of his Lord. They shall be afraid
of the Lord our God and shall fear because of thee. In the
next two verses he does something that we see often with Mr Hawker,
Robert Hawker. He tends to mention the Lord
and in a moment of sheer bliss as he contemplates his own personal
salvation, it's like he's adrift in the love of the Lord. Verse
18, who is a God like unto thee? that pardons iniquity, that passes
by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage, he retaineth
his anger not forever, because he delights in mercy." See, these
are all personal, aren't they? He will turn again. He will have
compassion upon us. He will subdue our iniquities. And how will he do that? and
thou will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." Now finally, Victoria's faith
contemplates the true basis of the whole of this saving and
sustaining process. It's the everlasting covenant,
isn't it? Verse 20, Thou will perform the
truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham. Often in the scriptures
Jacob is given to us as an illustration of the sinner within each of
us. Whereas Abraham, he is the father
of faith, he represents faith in us. So in essence this scripture
is talking to believing sinners. Thou wilt perform the truth and
the mercy to believing sinners which thou hast sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old." That's the everlasting covenant. Micah began being overwhelmed
by his enemies, but now he's overwhelmed by the saving grace
of God. As I said earlier, this is a
necessary process. It's a process in which the Lord
brings us to himself. and strengthens our union with
Him. He brings us deeper into relationship
with Him. I guess every one of us has known
those miserable comforters, like the ones that Job had. Jenny
and I had one when Matty first went into hospital years and
years ago. Do you notice they are always religious people?
They seem to have no real compassion towards us and all they do is
give you a law or a set of instructions and tell you to save yourself. I've expounded upon Micah's experience
and in doing so all I've really done is explain something about
the activities of saving faith in the hearts and the lives of
God's people. What I can't do, and I'm not
trying to do, is give you that faith. I won't give you a blueprint,
like false religion does, as how to be saved. Because it's
just not true. It must be God's Word. Brothers and sisters, especially
those that are weighed down at the moment, especially those
that are laid down by dramatic and difficult circumstances in
your lives. I know that we all go through
these things at one time or another, but sometimes I think we all
know that things are harder than others. Only God can make His Word, Spirit
and Life to your agonised souls. No other man can. All I can do All I can do, and
it's what church is about, is to encourage you to look away
from the counsel of this world, and look away especially from
the counsel that lies in your own bosom. Just wait on our faith of God. I don't know when, but if it
is, He really has promised to guide you and to comfort you
in His perfect time. It really is just another Gospel
promise. It's a covenant promise. Micah is just one personal example
of what all the children of God know to be true. No matter what the circumstances
might be, No matter what's going on in our lives, no matter how
difficult it is, we just wait for our God. He's
promised to sustain us in relationship with Himself. It'll be in His
time and He'll do it through that victorious faith. See, that
victorious faith by God's grace, it just clings from one covenant
promise to the next. And each of those promises in
God's time are made alive to our souls by God the Holy Spirit. May our God continue to empty
us of our own strength. May He give us and sustain in
us that victorious faith that we might see our enemies in light
of His sovereignty and not our own strength. And may He above
all else strengthen us in our experience of His presence in
our lives. Let's pray.